Threshold
by ceegeeayy
Summary: Reid meets a girl while lecturing at a university. She joins the BAU a year later. This girl has some baggage though. Will her troubled past and her extreme emotions bring them together or tear them apart? *COMPLETE* Please check out the sequel!
1. Chapter 1

It was a warm, sunny day, rare for early April. It seemed as if the entire campus was playing frisbee or tanning on the quad. The entire campus except Grace Ashton of course.

With her small, faintly freckled nose stuck inside a tattered copy of _The Great Gatsby_, Grace walked from her lecture to the library. She was completely absorbed in her book, despite the fact that this was the 10th time she'd read it. She was so absorbed in the book that she didn't see the tall, geeky looking man until she had already walked into him.

"Oh shit!" Grace exclaimed. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."

The man laughed and bent over to pick up Grace's book which she had dropped.

"It's alright," he said, handing the book to Grace, "It was partly my fault."

Grace noticed the book he held in his other hand; old, yellowed pages, leather cover, some language she didn't recognize. She smiled and looked up at him. He was at least a foot and a half taller than her, long brown hair, beautiful brown eyes that she realized later that she may have stared into for just a minute too long...

Then she recognized him, he was the guest speaker she'd just seen, Dr. Something-Or-Other. He looked way too young to be a doctor, he couldn't have been more than two years older than her and she was just about to finish her BA in Criminology.

"Oh, you're the FBI guy, right?" Grace asked nervously.

"Yeah, you were at the lecture?"

"Yeah, you probably didn't see me, I snuck in late." she blushed.

She felt the blood rush to her cheeks. Why was she blushing? Guys didn't make her blush, she put an end to that years ago.

"So... you like working for the FBI?" she asked, desperately trying to start some kind of pathetic conversation.

"Uh.. yeah, it's pretty rewarding." the young doctor replied.

"So how does one get a job with the FBI?"

"Well, you would have to apply to the academy, but I've never heard of a Canadian movie to the US to join the FBI."

"Well, I'm just exploring my options." Grace said.

"Oh, so you're graduating?"

Grace nodded.

"Why the FBI then? Canada has their own equivalent of it." he enquired.

Grace sighed, she couldn't believe she was about to have this conversation with a complete stranger, especially a complete strange that could make her blush.

"Have you ever just woke up and realized that you need to go somewhere else and just start over?" Grace asked, not expecting a response. "I need a change." she said, shrugging, trying to play it off as if it weren't as disturbed as she believed it had sounded.

"So you do everything in extremes?"

Grace's jaw dropped. "You're profiling me?"

"Am I right?"

Grace's face turned red, this time with anger. "No." she said, storming off towards her dorm.

Grace closed the dorm room door and collapsed on her bed. She tried as hard as she could to hold back the tears, but they broke through her eyelids and she felt she might choke to death.

That'd be a nice way to go_,_ she thought, choke to death in the only place she'd ever felt safe. At least her biographer wouldn't ever know about that disaster of an encounter.

Grace looked at herself in the full-length mirror across the room. She studied her face, blotchy and red from the tears, framed by her long, straight, golden blonde hair. She punched her mirror image in the face.

_Why am I such an idiot?_ She thought. _The first time I speak to a guy I have even the slightest interest in in _years_ and I screw it up! I don't deserve to be happy!_

She threw herself on the bed again and screamed into her pillow. Mid-scream, the door opened and Grace's roommate, Ainsley walked in.

"Hey honey," Ainsley greeted her cheerfully, "I saw you with that cute doctor guy. Did you get his number?"

Grace cried even harder. "I didn't even get his name!"

Ainsley's smile disappeared. "I'm sorry hun," she said, wrapping her arms around her friend. "Don't worry, there'll be others."

Grace just stared at her. "Ains, come on, you know that's not true."

"Grace Ashton, I have listened to your 'no one will ever want me' bullshit for five years now!" Ainsley said. "Fix your face, we're going to catch him and do this over!"

"Ainsley, please-"

"No! Come on!"

Ainsley grabbed Grace by the wrist and dragged her out of their room. She didn't let go until they reached the parking lot where they saw Dr. Something-Or-Other get in a cab and drive away.

"Oh, Grace, I'm so sorry." Ainsley said, attempting to comfort her friend.

Grace shook her head. "It's alright, Ains, I'm used to this by now. It's just... it's been awhile."


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I own nothing except Grace._

_

* * *

_

Grace fixed her hair for what must have been the 100th time in the sun visor mirror of her black Nissan Altima.

"You can do this." she spoke to her reflecion. "You are a smart, strong, independent woman and you can do this. You're the first person in your family to have a university degree _and_ you've graduated from the FBI Academy. Let's go fight some crime!"

Grace got out of her vehicle and bounced up the steps of the FBI headquarters, humming the last song she'd heard on the radio. Fresh out of the FBI Academy, today was her first day at the Behaviour Analysis Unit. She'd spent days telling herself that this was the right decision for her and was fighting every bit of doubt as hard as she could. She felt the vomit creep up her throat like it always did when she was nervous. She fought it with everything she had in her as she approached the doors to the BAU and heard someone call her name. Well, her last name anyway, her last name following the word "agent". This would take some getting used to.

"Good morning, Agent Hotchner." Grace greeted her new boss. She'd only met him once before when he had interviewed her and she didn't think it was possible to be more terrified of him, but she was.

"Please, Agent Ashton, call me Hotch." he said.

"Well then, you can call me Ash." Grace laughed nervously.

"Are you ready for this? You look rather uncomfortable."

Grace laughed again. This was her typical reaction to anything when she was scared, nervous or in an awkward situation. She cursed this trait every day of her life.

"Well, my last first day at a job, I had a plate thrown at me by the head chef. I'm pretty sure it can't get worse than that."

Hotch raised an eyebrow. "You could get shot."

Grace laughed her nervous laugh again and kicked herself mentally. "Forgot where I was."

She hung her head when she saw Hotch's expression. He was doubting his decision to hire her already.

"Well, let's do this thang!" Grace exclaimed.

Hotch opened the door for her and said, "After you."

Grace entered the room slowly. She stared in terrified amazement as she looked down on the BAU bullpen.

"Team," Hotch called the attention of everyone in the room. "This is our newest profiler, Grace Ashton."

Grace felt about a dozen curious eyes on her. She wanted to run. Another typical reaction for her.

"Agent Ashton-" Hotch began.

"Ash." Grace corrected him.

"Ash, this is Prentiss, Morgan, JJ, Rossi, Garcia," Hotch said, pointing out each member of his team. "And Dr. Reid."

Grace's jaw dropped as a scrawny, nerdy man rolled out from behind a massive stack of paperwork in his desk chair. It was Dr. Something-Or-Other.

"You!" she exclaimed.

"What are _you _doing here?" Dr. Reid asked.

Grace ignored the pain the emphasis on the "you" caused in her chest.

"So you remember me?" she asked.

_Remember her?_ How could he forget? Since the day she ran into him, dropping her tattered copy of Gatsby, looking up at him under her golden blonde hair with those emerald green eyes that somehow grabbed his soul and fogged up his brain, she hadn't left his mind.

"I..uh... I h-have an eidetic memory." he mumbled.

"Oh," Grace said, pretending she knew what the word meant.

_Note to self: get a dictionary app on your iphone._ Grace thought.

"S-so you finally decided on the BAU, huh?" Reid asked.

"Well, it would seem so." Grace said. "Where's my desk?"

The team snapped out of their confused stupor.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to dig it out from under the recent landslide of Mount Reid's-Paperwork." Garcia laughed.

"That's a desk under there?" Grace asked in disbelief as she watched Reid sneak off to the break room out of the corner of her eye.

"I'll give you a hand with that." Garcia offered. "Oh, BTW, I love your shoes, where'd you get them?"

"Oh, thanks." Grace said, picking up a stack of papers and piling on the floor beside Reid's desk. No way was she risking putting them back on top of the Leaning Tower of Paperwork. "I got them at a store back home."

"Darn." Garcia said.

"They ship world-wide though."

"Honey, we are going to be best friends, OK? What size are your feet? I'm raiding your closet."

"Ladies, you can talk about shoes another day, we have a case." Hotch said. "Everyone, conference room, now!"

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews and favorites. I can't believe I got such great feedback so fast! **

**Any feedback I would love to hear. I'm new to this and any help would be greatly appreciated.**

**Also, I'm watching Amplification right now. Poor Spencer :(**

**Another also: Please excuse the extra "u" in words such as "favourite", "behaviour", "colour", and "neighbour". I'm Canadian, these are my ways, please accept it.**

**For any doubters, I promise this story will get better. It's there, in my head, it's just a matter of actually writing these amazing things out.**

**Oh yeah, I should tell you all why it's called _Threshold!_ I was considering letting you all guess and giving some of my dad's delicious strawberry kiwi cheesecake to whoever got it right, but the difficulty of shipping that is just too much for me to think about right now, so I'm just gonna tell you all. Threshold is an effect of photo-editing programs and I discovered it on Windows Movie Maker while doing an art project. Anyway, for anyone who's not familiar with it, Threshold kind of brings out the extremes of all the colours in a picture. This is like Grace's personality. Everything in extremes. You'll see.**

**Also, _Threshold_ just sounds really cool. I like to say it over and over. "_Threshold!_" It sounds more tough and kickass than my original fluffy title. Also, Grace would like it. **

**Anyway, enough of my babbling. Peace!**


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I own nothing except Grace._

* * *

Hotch briefed his team in their conference room. A 43-year-old woman was found beaten and choked to death in her home. Her 15-year-old daughter was missing.

"Do they have any suspects?" Morgan asked.

"The girl's boyfriend hasn't been seen in about 3 days." Hotch said. "We'll discuss this on the plane, this girl doesn't have much time."

Grace's heart jumped into her throat. _A case already? I should've seen this coming, it's just my luck._

_

* * *

_

"So what do they have on the boyfriend?" Grace asked on the plane.

Prentiss picked the file up off the table and glanced at the pages on the suspect. "Drug addict, previous assault charges..."

"On the girl?"

"No... but she's recently been to the hospital. Broken arm, bruises. She said she fell."

"Typical of an abuse victim." Reid added.

Grace bit her lip. "What's her name?"

The team all gave her curious looks.

"Mary." Prentiss replied.

"So he abuses Mary, then he kills her mother so he can run away with her?" Grace said. "That makes no sense. He abuses her, he treats her like dirt. Why would he want to run away with her?"

"Says here that the social worker that talked to Mary in the hospital was looking into the boyfriend." Morgan said, taking his turn looking over the file.

"So he realized they were onto him, got scared and took the girl?" Rossi suggested.

"No, this doesn't make sense." Grace said, shaking her head. "Why the overkill on the mother?"

Grace snatched the file from Morgan's hands. She studied the crime scene photos quickly, but thoroughly.

"She's got marks on her wrists." she remarked.

"She was tied up." Reid said.

Grace shot him a a dirty look. She wasn't seeing anything _genius_ about this guy.

"Yeah, so why would he tie her up then beat her?" Grace wondered out loud. " If she was trying to stop him from taking her daughter, she should have minor defensive wounds, not _this_! This is brutal. This was personal."

Grace felt the tears coming on.

"Excuse me." she said, getting up and walking to the bathroom.

* * *

This was too much, too fast, and too personal. If her instincts were right, this poor girl was in almost the same situation she was in 11 years ago.

_I need a fix_. Grace thought for the fist time in four years.

_No!_ She argued with herself. _No drugs, you can do this without them._

Grace sank to the floor where she sat and cried, wondering why she'd decided to do this.

* * *

Reid wished he had just kept his mouth shut. That look she had given him, it felt like she'd just put a knife right through his chest. It scared him that someone he didn't even know could do that to him. What scared him more was that he didn't know why. For the first time in his life, there was something he didn't know.

* * *

There was a knock on the bathroom door.

"Just a minute!" Grace choked, standing up, fixing her outfit and looking in the mirror.

"I uh... I just wanted to let you know we're landing soon." Reid said.

Grace didn't reply. She thought for a moment she might cry again. She was so embarrassed. Why had she acted so childish in front of the whole team?

"Are you alright?" Reid asked.

"Um.. yeah, I'm fine." Grace lied, immediately regretting it when she remembered that he was a genius profiler. "I have a really weak stomach, and seeing those pictures..."

"OK."

Reid returned to his seat, but Grace stayed in the bathroom. She was too embarrassed to face the rest of the team. Once they landed, she lingered in the plane until everyone else was off, she then sat quietly in the back of the SUV until they reached the police station.

The team spoke with the local police and Hotch began handing out orders. Grace wasn't even paying attention, she stood at the back of the room with her head hung, trying not to be noticed. She looked up like a deer in the headlights when she heard Hotch say her name.

"Reid, you and Ash stay here and start working on a geographic profile. We need to find this guy, Mary's running out of time." Hotch ordered.

Grace rolled her eyes. _Of course_.

The rest of the team and the local PD began milling out of the room, leaving Grace alone with Reid.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Reid asked her again when everyone had left the room.

Grace shrugged, she figured he'd get it sooner or later.

"Typically, people have a rough first day on any job. A job like our would probably only make it worse."

Grace cracked a smile at Reid's awkward attempt to make her feel better.

"I just wish I'd been more prepared though." she said.

"They don't really teach you that in the Academy, do they?"

Grace shook her head.

"This one's personal, isn't it?"

Grace nodded.

Reid was silent for a moment, then he said, "That's why you don't think it's the boyfriend."

Grace nodded.

"Who is it?"

Grace sighed. "The father. He's not going to hurt her, but he'll kill anyone who gets in his way."

Reid just stared at her.

"He wants revenge, that's why he tied up and beat his ex-wife. She beat Mary."

"Are you sure you're not just jumping to conclusions? The social worker reported that it was the boyfriend that beat Mary."

"I want to talk to the social worker."

* * *

"So you filed the report on Mary Stone, Ms. Faulkner?" Reid asked the stern looking, middle aged woman.

"Yes, I did." she replied.

"Alright, and what proof did you have that it was her boyfriend who beat her?" he asked.

"W-What do you mean?"

"Well, the report doesn't exactly give a reason."

"Joey's a drug addict, he's been charged with assault before."

"But what _evidence_ did you have?" Grace demanded. "Did Grace _tell _you that he beat her? Oh yeah, that's right, she _couldn't_, her jaw was broken!"

"I-I- uh..." Ms. Faulkner stammered.

"Grace,"

"Don't you 'Grace' me, Reid!" Grace yelled. "This bitch is accusing a kid of beating his girlfriend without any proof!"

"Ms. Faulkner, Mary is missing and her mother's been murdered." Reid explained. "Your co-operation can only help us find her sooner."

The social worker turned and walked away.

"Well, that was fucked." Grace said. "Aren't they supposed to co-operate?"

Reid's phone began to ring.

"Reid." He answered. "OK, we're on our way."

"What was that?" Grace inquired.

"Well, the boyfriend's no longer a suspect." Reid answered. "He's dead."

* * *

Grace took one look at the body and bolted out the door of the dilapidated duplex. In the yard she bent over a patch of weeds and emptied the contents of her stomach.

"Hey kid, you OK?" Rossi asked.

"Yeah." Grace coughed. "Is it weird that I can taste the blood when I look at it?"

"Probably."

Grace sighed. "I'm not cut out for this. I shouldn't be here."

"You were right about the suspect though."

Grace shrugged. "Anyone could guess that it wasn't him though, and I think I'm wrong about who it actually is too."

"Why's that?"

"Well, how do we even know the same guy killed Joey and Stella? Stella was beat to death and choked, Joey was stabbed 26 times."

"They were both tied up." Reid said, approaching Grace and Rossi. "I'm with Ash on this, both murders were personal, probably revenge."

"Then this one probably is too." Hotch said, joining the three members of his team. "The social worker you two talked to was just found dead in her home, same M.O. as Joey."

Reid and Rossi both gave Grace looks that said "Don't even think of opening your mouth."

The four of them got in the black SUV and followed Morgan, Prentiss and JJ to the next crime scene.

"So, why is no one listening to me?" Grace asked. "Why aren't we looking into the father?"

"He lives in another state." Hotch said. "What evidence do you have that it was him? What makes you think that you can just make assumptions?"

"Hotch, give the kid a break." Rossi defended Grace.

"What she's saying makes sense, Hotch." Reid said. "Elliott Stone could have discovered his daughter was being beaten, then killed his wife for letting it happen, killed Joey for doing it, then killed the social worker for not doing anything about it."

"Uh.. guys?" Grace said. "How close is Tucson to the border?"

"It's about 70 miles to the Nogales." Reid answered.

"Someone should call border patrol and have them watch for Elliott Stone."

* * *

The team stood staring into the interrogation room at Mary Stone. She was staring at the door with her blackened eyes, waiting for them.

"She's going to defend him." Hotch said. "Ash, I want you in there, I think you know what to say to her."

Grace nodded. She knew by the look in his eyes that he'd called Garcia on the way back to Tucson and had her find her connection to the case.

She took a deep breath and opened the door. She took a seat opposite Mary.

"Hi Mary," she greeted the girl. "I'm Agent Ash, but you can call me Grace."

Mary just stared at her.

"I know your father was only trying to protect you," Grace said. "But I need you to tell me exactly what happened. I know it sounds like I'm trying to lock him up, but your statement could help get him a lighter sentence. After what he did for you, shouldn't you help him out a bit?"

Mary sighed and the defensive look left her face. Grace knew she would crack her with that last line.

"Mom started hitting me before they even divorced." the girl began. "Dad never noticed cuz he was always gone for work. After they split, it got worse. I tried to tell people, but no one believed me. Mom went to church, had a good job, married a nice guy, I'm the problem child, I get bad grades, I run around with dirtbags, who would believe my word against hers?"

Mary stopped and choked on several tears.

"It's alright, Mary," Grace said. "Please continue."

Mary sniffled. "I started dating Joey. He hit me too. He told me I deserved it. I tried to tell my mother, but she beat me for lying. I called my dad and he drove down and took me to the hospital. When I got out, he took me home and told me to pack a bag. He said it was over, we were going to be free. While I was upstairs, I heard him and Mom fighting. I didn't think anything of it, they fought all the time. When I came down, I went straight to the car, I didn't want to say goodbye to her."

"Wait-" Grace interrupted. "You didn't know he killed her?"

Mary shook her head. "I didn't know about any of them until you people picked us up. I sat in the car while he..."

"Alright," Grace said. "That's all I need to know."

She stood up and prepared to leave the room.

"Uh... Grace?" Mary said. "Can- Can I see him?"

"I don't see why not."

* * *

The whole team fell asleep on the flight home. The whole team except Hotch and Grace that is.

"You did good out there, kid." Hotch told her.

"Thanks."

"You're going to have to work on your ethics and doing things by the book though, you could have got us in a lot of trouble."

Grace just nodded. She didn't want to talk to Hotch. She was tired, but her mind just kept reeling.

"I understand how hard it must have been for you. Your first case shouldn't have been such a personal one. I'm sorry I had Garcia look you up, but when one of my team is acting like you were, I'd like to know why. You may not see it now, but we're kind of like a family."

Grace nodded. "I figured someone would look it up sooner or later." She paused. "I kind of envy Mary Stone."

Hotch raised an eyebrow.

"Her father came to her rescue." Grace explained. "I had to leave myself. No one to help me. I was homeless for awhile before my father finally realized what happened and took me in. When I had black eyes from my boyfriends, kids at school, his girlfriend, he pretended like he didn't notice. I loved him, he was my hero, but I can never forgive him for that."

"Mary Stone is going to be scarred for life by this." Hotch said. "She'll never be independent. She'll most likely be with more abusive men, waiting for someone to come and save her. She'll always think she deserves to be beaten and she'll always defend her abuser. You got yourself out. You've moved on. You caught your first killer. You're going to be alright, kid."

Grace smiled. "Thanks, Hotch. I think I'm gonna try to get some sleep before we get back to Quantico. Thanks for not firing me today."

Grace stood up and made her way to the only free seat left, the couch opposite Reid. She laid down and stared at him. His face looked so different when his brain wasn't going a mile a minute. Whatever he was dreaming about, it definitely was not serial killers and psychopaths. Then she noticed something. She got up and kneeled on the floor beside him.

"Hey, Reid." she whispered. "Reid!"

He opened his eyes, shocked to be nose-to-nose with her. "What?"

"You shouldn't sleep with your tie on, you could choke to death." she said, beginning to untie it.

"It's OK, I've got it." he said.

Grace rolled her eyes. "It's alright, I'm used to watching people while they sleep."

Reid gave her a funny look.

"I mean, to make sure they don't die. I mean, alcoholics and drug-addicts." she stammered. "I mean, uh... I mean, here." she handed him his tie. "I'm going to sleep now."

She got back on the other couch and turned away from Reid, hiding her face which had turned red from embarrassment.

Reid stared at Grace, hoping she'd turn around and face him. When he was sure she was asleep, he whispered, "Thank you."

* * *

**A/N: Yay! A long one this time! I hope this answered some of the questions about Grace that I've received and I hope that it's satisfied some of the concerns about Grace and Reid.**

**Anyway, stay tuned for the next one, it's gonna be a good one! **

**Oh, and if I don't have the next chapter up before the 25th, Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays to all my amazing fans! I love you all and thanks for supporting me through this thing!**

**I'm so frustrated that I couldn't synch the story up with the holidays, I have something _amazing _planned! Grrr... Anyway, enough spoiling my own story. **

**Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback in exchange for brownie points? **


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, just Grace._

* * *

Grace danced her way into the bullpen of the BAU, orange smoothie in one hand, tray full of coffee in the other. It had been two weeks since she started work and things were looking up. The only cases since Elliott Stone had been fairly close to Quantico and none had been as personal and emotionally exhausting. She was getting along really well with the rest of the team, even Hotch.

She made her rounds of the bullpen, leaving a coffee on everyone's desk. The smell of the stuff made her stomach churn and it made her miss the _real _coffee back home.

"Happy birthday Gracie!" Garcia exclaimed as Grace entered her office.

Grace's smile disappeared from her face. "Pen! You didn't?"

"Oh come on, you only turn 24 once!"

"You didn't tell the rest of them, did you?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Garcia asked.

Grace sighed. "Something bad always happens on my birthday, so I just ignore the date."

"Well, this year is going to be different!" Garcia exclaimed.

A worried look came across Grace's face. "What have you done, Pen?"

The tech-goddess grinned deviously. "We're going out tonight."

"OK, girls' night, that's not so bad, I guess." Grace said, relieved.

The devious grin only grew wider on Garcia's face. "Not exactly, my furry friend."

"Oh no."

"We have some boy toys accompanying us."

"Wh-who?"

"Boy-Wonder and the Chocolate Dream."

"Reid goes to clubs?" Grace asked, bewildered by the idea.

"He'll go where I tell him to go."

Grace laughed, trying to picture Reid at a club.

"So, are you in?" Garcia asked.

"You know I'd do anything for you, Pen."

* * *

Around six o'clock the members of the BAU began to head home. However, Grace, Morgan, Garcia and Reid lingered behind.

"You guys ready to get this party started?" Garcia asked.

"Not particularly, no." Grace said.

"Zip it, birthday girl!" Garcia pointed at Grace, then she turned on Reid. "You too, Boy-Wonder! I can hear your brilliant mind protesting."

The girls left Quantico in Grace's Altima, the stereo's bass shaking the car. Reid and Morgan followed them in Morgan's SUV. The two cars pulled into the driveway of a sub-urban home about half an hour later.

"You live alone in this big house?" Morgan asked Grace as he got out of his vehicle.

Grace laughed and shook her head. "No, I live in that." She pointed to the apartment above the detached, 2-car garage. "I have a balcony and pool privileges though."

The four of them entered the garage and ascended the staircase to Grace's apartment.

"Uh.. make yourselves at home." Grace said. "I'm just gonna get changed."

As she hung her jacket in the closet, Grace observed her new friends. Morgan and Garcia were rifling through her boxes of DVDs she hadn't got around to unpacking yet and Reid was standing by the door, fidgeting nervously, his eyes scanning the aparment.

"Reid, I said 'Make yourself at home.' not 'Stand by the door and look for possible escape routes.'" Grace laughed, walking into her room and shutting the door behind her.

She scanned her closet – which was uncharacteristically large for a single-bedroom apartment above a garage – and settled on a form-fitting, red, off-the-shoulder mini-dress. She kicked off her Converse sneakers and slipped into a pair of black leather, 6-inch heels. She threw on some cheap jewelery and checked herself out in her full-length mirror.

_Perfect_. She thought, grabbing a black leather clutch and throwing her credit card, cell phone and a tube of lipgloss in.

She exited her bedroom and saw her friends still snooping through her belongings. Morgan had moved on to the CDs and Garcia was now examining the art that covered almost every inch of her boring, white walls. Reid had left his post by the door and was looking at her gigantic bookcase.

Grace rolled her eyes. _Profilers_.

"You guys ready to roll?" Grace asked.

They all looked at her.

"Yeah, just let me pick my jaw up off the floor." Derek said.

Grace laughed. "Well, you better hurry up, Derek cuz I'm ready to get my drink on!"

* * *

Once Grace had changed outfits, it was like she had changed personalities. She didn't protest anything the rest of the night. In fact, she was more enthusiastic than Garcia by the time she was through her fist drink. The two of them were having a blast on the dance floor while Morgan and Reid sat at a table in the back of the club. Morgan did not look like he wanted to be the table as he eyed every girl who passed by and looked enviously at Grace and Garcia on the floor.

"You need to get some action, kid." he said to Reid.

"No thanks, I'm fine." Reid said, spinning his water bottle.

"Then why did you come if you were just going to sit here?" Morgan asked.

"I don't think I need to explain to you the consequences of saying no to Garcia."

Morgan laughed, but he knew Garcia wouldn't actually make Reid do something he didn't want to.

"Seriously though, kid. Why?"

Reid didn't answer, but Morgan followed his gaze toward the dance floor. Grace.

"Make a move, kid!" Morgan urged.

Reid shook his head. "We're co-workers, it wouldn't be right. Besides, what would a girl like her want with a guy like me?"

"Fine then," Morgan said. "But don't get angry when someone else jumps on that."

Just as Morgan said that, a buff guy with spiky blonde hair in an Ed Hardy t-shirt approached Grace and began dancing with her.

* * *

"Hey, I'm Brady." the guy thrusting into Grace's backside said.

"Grace."

"Can I buy you a drink?" he asked.

"Yeah, and while you're at it, buy yourself a drink. I recommend a bottle of bleach. Now please get your pelvis away from me."

Garcia laughed and Grace joined her as Brady stormed off.

"Girl, that was awesome!" Garcia said, holding up her hand for a high-five.

Grace grinned and slapped her hand against Garcia's.

"So how do you plan on getting Boy-Wonder out here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come on, Grace. I'm not blind. You like our little genius friend over there."

Grace laughed. "Stick to the tech stuff, Pen, you're a terrible profiler."

Grace made her way to the bar and downed three more shots in a matter of seconds. As the night progressed, she got moodier and was drinking like a fish. Morgan eventually came to the dance floor and stole Garcia away from her. So Grace stumbled back to the table where Reid sat, observing everyone in the club.

"You! Dance with me, now!" she demanded.

Reid's eyes widened and looked like they might pop out of his head. "Uh.. No thanks." was all her could manage to choke out.

"Please, Reid?"

"I uh... I can't dance."

"You don't have to _know_ how to dance. You just _feel_ the music and you let it move you." Grace tried reasoning with him.

Reid shook his head.

Grace pouted. "Pleeeeeeease Spencer? It's my birthday!"

Reid tried not to break under the power of Grace's adorable pout.

"Fine." he surrendered.

"Yay! You're the best." Grace squeeled, grabbing Reid by the hand and dragging him to the dance floor.

"Hey man, it's about time you got your ass out here!" Morgan greeted him.

Grace began grinding on Reid while he just stood there, looking painfully awkward. Morgan and Garcia headed to the bar to get more drinks.

"Oh dear," Garcia said, looking back at her friends. "That does not look good."

"They'll be fine, Baby Girl." Morgan assured her.

"Are you sure?"

The pair watched as Grace continued to press herself against Reid's statue-like body. They couldn't tell if she was being that aggressive with her advances or if she actually needed to hold onto her poor victim to keep from collapsing.

"OK, Baby Girl, you're right. I think it's time we intervened."

Morgan and Garcia returned to the dance floor.

"Reid, take Ash home." Morgan said.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, get her out of here, she can't drive herself."

Reid nodded. "See you guys tomorrow. C'mon Grace, time to go."

Grace looked up from Reid's shoulder where she had been resting her head.

"What? I don't wanna go." she protested.

Reid shyly put his arm around her waist and started walking her out of the club.

"Cloooossiiiiiiiing tiiiiime," Grace sang loudly and obnoxiously once they were out on the street. "One last call for alcohol, so finish your whiskey or beer. Cloooossiiiiiiiing tiiiime, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay heeeeere!"

Reid put Grace in the passenger side of her Altima and buckled her seat belt for her. She drifted in and out of consciousness the whole ride home. When they arrived back at her apartment, Reid had to carry her up the stairs.

"Which is your house key?" he asked, flipping through all the keys on Grace's keyring.

Why did she even have so many keys? She only needed one for her car and one for her door.

"Er... iunno..." she slurred and she sat down on the top step and leaned on the wall.

Reid finally found the right key. He opened the door, picked Grace up and dragged her inside. He helped her walk to her bedroom where she collapsed on her bed.

"Thank you..." she mumbled.

"Uh.. Do you need anything before I go?"

Grace groaned something Reid couldn't understand.

"What?"

"Stay."

"I can't Grace."

Grace pouted. "Please, if you don't stay, I could choke on my own vomit and die."

"Grace, I-"

"I saved you from being choked to death by your tie."

"I've got to go. I'll see you at work tomorrow."

Reid left the apartment, but by the time he got to the bottom of the staircase, the guilt was too much. What if Grace really did choke on her own vomit and die? What if she had alcohol poisoning? He turned around and ran back up the stairs.

"Hey, you're back." Grace said when Reid came back into her bedroom.

"Yeah, I'm back."

"Un-zip me?"

"Grace, I- I can't do that."

"But I can't sleep in my dress, it'll get ruined!" she whined.

"Fine." Reid sighed.

Grace stood up and turned her back to him. He grabbed the zipper, closed his eyes and pulled it down. He heard the closet door open, then close. He opened his eyes. About 30 seconds later, Grace came out, wearing an over-sized hockey jersey.

"Well, goodnight." Reid said, heading to the living room.

"No, you're not sleeping on the couch." Grace said.

"Grace, this isn't right. You're drunk and-"

"No, I didn't mean like that. I meant, my couch isn't exactly a couch. You're too tall, your back's gonna feel like hell tomorrow if you sleep there."

Reid shook his head. "Grace, I can't."

Grace rolled her eyes. "This is a king-sized bed. You'll be like a mile away from me."

He shook his head again.

"Fine, do what you want. I'm going to sleep."

"Goodnight, Grace."

She ignored him.

"Happy birthday, Grace."

Reid tossed and turned on the couch for about an hour before he realized he wasn't going to get a substantial amount of sleep. He got off the couch and turned on the lamp. He went to the bookcase and scanned the shelves, looking for something he hadn't read before. Except for a few biographies of dead rockstars, there was nothing he hadn't already read. Then he noticed about seven unlabeled books on the top shelf. Upon closer inspection, Reid realized that they were notebooks. He opened one to the first page.

"These thoughts are too sick and twisted for you. Keep the fuck out if you know what's good for you." it read.

Reid jumped when he heard his cell phone vibrate on Grace's coffee table. He picked it up and saw that Morgan had sent him a text.

"Hey kid, how'd it go?"

Reid ignored the text and went back to the couch. He finally started to fall asleep when he heard a scream in Grace's room.

"Grace?" he said, running into her room.

Grace continued screaming. "Help! Help! No! Stop him! Help!"

"Grace, what's wrong?" Reid asked, shaking her awake.

When Grace awoke, she was crying and hyperventilating.

"It's alright, Grace, it was just a dream." he said, but she only cried harder.

Reid wanted to comfort her, but he had no idea how. He sat down on the bed and put a hand on her shoulder. He hoped it was enough.

Grace threw her arms around him and cried on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry." she sobbed. "I'm so sorry."

"It's alright."

Reid rubbed her back and let her cry. Part of him wished he had left the apartment when he dropped her off.

"I'm sorry." Grace sniffed. "I'm so embarrassed."

"Don't worry about it." Reid said. "Are you going back to sleep?"

Grace nodded and released him. "Please stay this time."

"OK." Reid said and got in bed next to her, but kept as far away as he could.

Grace rolled her eyes. "Do you have a deathwish or something?" she asked, getting closer to him and untying his tie.

Reid laughed. "Goodnight, Grace."

"Goodnight. Thanks for tonight."

Grace was asleep within seconds. Reid stayed awake for the rest of the night. He stared at Grace and wondered what could be wrong with her. He wondered why he couldn't seem to keep his eyes off her and why he always felt like he was choking whenever she was near him.

* * *

**A/N: Hooray for quick updating! I stayed up all night last night writing this and ended up falling asleep in both English and Canadian History today. So, I hope you all enjoyed it cuz I sure did. Don't forget to R&R! :)**

**Stay tuned for the next chapter. It should be up tomorrow sometime.**


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Grace._

* * *

Grace woke at 6:30 to the sound of her alarm clock. She grabbed the clock and chucked it across the room. Her headache was not going to put up with _that_.

"Reid, wake up, we have to go to work." she said before she rolled over to face him.

To her surprise, he was gone. Had it been a dream? No, his side of the bed was definitely slept in. She wondered where he'd went, but there'd be time to think about that later, right now the contents of her stomach had an appointment with the toilet bowl.

When she'd finished puking, Grace went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She swished the cold water around in her mouth and spit it into the sink.

She went to her bathroom and got in the shower. While the scalding hot water fell on her, she tried to remember exactly what happened the night before. She remembered getting ready and going to the club with Garcia, Morgan, and Reid. She could remember dancing with Garcia, then the Ed Hardy douchebag, then.. Oh shit, she'd practically raped Reid. She could picture his face in one of the BAU's victim files. The poor guy.

She didn't remember much after grinding on Reid. She could remember crying and Reid getting in her bed, but that was about it. Had they had sex? Is that why he took off before she woke up? How was she going to face him at work today?

* * *

Grace entered the bullpen without the usual bounce in her step that day. She scanned the room for Reid, but he was nowhere to be seen. Good. Grace raced to Garcia's office and closed the door behind her.

Garcia looked her friend up and down. "You look like you had quite the night."

"That's one way to put it." Grace sighed.

She sat down in an empty chair and ran her fingers through her long blonde hair.

"Pen..." she said. "I think I had sex with Reid."

"Oh my god!" Garcia gasped. "How was it?"

"I don't remember. I can't remember _anything_ after we left the club. I was crying and he got in my bed... that's it."

"Oh no."

"Pen, where is he? He's always here before me."

"He's here." Garcia replied. "He's hiding in Derek's office."

Grace sighed. "What am I gonna do? I've ruined everything!"

"So you _do _like him?"

"No, I mean... I don't know, but whatever I felt for him is ruined now. I've jeopardized our friendship and my job!" Grace began to cry.

Garcia handed her a box of tissues. "No you haven't. This stays between me and you... and Reid. Oh, and Derek's probably getting it out of him right now. Come on, dry your eyes, you've got bad guys to catch."

Grace stopped crying. "Thanks Pen."

She went to her desk and sat down. On the desk there was something wrapped in brown paper and tied with a red ribbon. Curiously, she untied the ribbon and unwrapped the paper. Inside was a note and a tattered, leather bound book. She picked up the note and read it.

"Happy Birthday, Grace." was all it said.

She picked up the book and examined it. It was a book of Coleridge's poetry. She flipped the pages immediately to _Christabel_, her favorite. Who could have given her this? Who would know that it was her favorite?

She looked up from the book and found herself staring into Reid's eyes. He must have snuck out of Morgan's office while she had been reading the poem.

"Good morning." he said.

"Hi." Grace choked. "Uh- did- I mean... Last night... nevermind."

Grace looked down at her desk and began working on a stack of paperwork. She sped through the paperwork, ignoring all distractions at the desk across from hers. When she finished with her work, she read her book.

* * *

Garcia paced around her office, worrying about her friend. The poor girl couldn't even remember what she'd done with Reid!

Garcia marched to Morgan's office and slammed the door behind her.

"What did he tell you?" she demanded.

"What did who tell me, Baby Girl?"

"Don't you 'Baby Girl' me!" she yelled. "Grace is falling apart out there and you're not telling me what Reid told you!"

"What are you talking about?"

"He didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"They slept together."

"Yeah, they literally _slept_ together."

"Wh-What?"

"Yeah," Morgan said. "He slept in her bed cuz she had a nightmare and asked him to."

"No sex?" Garcia asked

Morgan shook his head. "No sex."

"Oh no."

"She thinks they had sex?"

Garcia nodded.

"Well, that can't be good."

The pair stood and watched Grace and Reid through the window of Morgan's office.

* * *

"Oh my God!" Grace exploded. "Could you stop tapping?"

"Sorry." Reid said.

"Sorry? Sorry's all you have to say after you took advantage of me last night?"

"Grace, what are you talking about?"

"You know damn well what I'm talking about!" she screamed, getting up and stomping away.

Reid watched her walk away, totally confused.

"Hey kid, get in here!" Morgan called to him from his office.

As Reid entered the office, Garcia walked out.

"Morgan, what's going on?" he asked.

Morgan sighed. "Ash thinks you two had sex last night."

"Wh-what? Why?"

"All she can remember is you getting in her bed."

"I should go talk to her."

"Garcia went to find her. You should probably wait."

Reid sighed. "Morgan, I don't know what to do about her. I don't like not knowing, I'm not used to it. You're experienced with women, what do I do?"

"I may be good with the ladies, but I can't help you with Ash. That girl is just something else."

* * *

"Grace, are you in here?" Garcia asked, entering the washroom.

"Pen?" Grace said.

Garcia went to the very last stall. The door swung open and Grace stood in front of her, wiping a tear from her eye. Garcia wrapped her arms around her friend.

"It's OK, Grace." she said. "It was all just a huge misunderstanding."

"What do you mean?"

"You guys didn't have sex. You had a nightmare and asked him to sleep in your bed. He left before you woke up so he could get ready for work and buy your birthday present."

"Oh, Pen! I've been so stupid!" Grace exclaimed. She turned around and began to bang her head off of the bathroom stall.

Garcia grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around.

"Grace! Calm down."

Grace teared up again. "I'm sorry Pen. This place and that boy, they make me act so crazy. I'm so embarrassed. I don't know what it is about him that makes me act like this. Maybe I should quit and move back home."

"And deprive me of my best friend? No way." Garcia said. "Gracie, you should go home and clear your head. I'll tell Hotch you've got the flu."

Grace smiled. "Thanks, Pen."

* * *

"Hey, Garcia, where's Grace?" Reid asked.

"She went home, she's not feeling too hot." Garcia replied.

Reid got up from his desk and grabbed his brown leather messenger bag.

"Where are you going, Reid?" Garcia asked.

"I have to go talk to her." Reid said, already out the door.

He got in his car and called Grace's cell phone, pulling out of the parking lot. No answer. He tried again, speeding down the street. Still no answer.

Reid pulled into Grace's driveway in record time. He jumped out of his car, ran into the garage and bounded up the stairs.

"Grace," he said, knocking on her door. "Grace, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, please let me in."

There was no answer.

"Grace, I know you're in there, your car's here."

Still no answer.

"Grace, I understand if you're angry with me, but I want to talk to you. I _need_ to talk to you. Please let me in."

"Reid?" he heard Grace call from somewhere in the back of the apartment.

"Grace, are you alright? What's wrong?"

He heard Grace say something. He couldn't hear exactly what she said, but it did not sound good.

"Grace, can you let me in?"

No answer. Reid backed up and looked at the door. Where was Morgan when you needed him? He rapidly recalled some lessons from the Academy and kicked the door the way he remembered. It burst open easier than he expected.

He ran into the apartment and straight to Grace's bedroom. He opened the door and found her on the floor, bottle of vodka in one hand, gun in the other.

* * *

**A/N: Dun-dun-duuuuun, cliffhanger!**

**So, you should all go read Samuel Taylor Coleridge's _Christabel_. It's a beautiful poem and it ties in to something super awesome later on in the story. **

**Please send me some feedback, i'd really appreciate it, especially if it's super critical. My best friend has been reading this and she tells me that it is just unbelievably cheesy. So, tell me how you think the story could improve.**

**Goodnight my darlings.**


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: I own nothing except Grace._

* * *

"Grace, no!" Reid shouted. "Put the gun down!"

"Why should I?"

"Grace, it was a misunderstanding. It's not something worth killing yourself over."

She shook her head. "It's not just that."

"Then what's wrong?"

"Everything. I gave up everything I had to move here and now what? I suck at my job, everyone hates me and I screwed up with you."

"Grace, you know that none of that is true. You're great at your job and everyone loves you."

Grace just shook her head.

"Do I have to call Garcia?"

Grace thought of her friend, how hurt she would be if she actually pulled the trigger. She dropped the gun and began to sob. Reid picked it up and put it on Grace's dresser. He then sat on the floor beside her and let her cry on his shoulder for the second time in less than 24 hours.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." she sobbed.

He rubbed her back. "It's alright."

"No, no it's not. You don't need to see me like this, you don't care. I feel terrible."

"Don't. If I didn't care, I would have left. I'm not going to leave my friend here to die. You're a profiler, you should know me well enough to know that I wouldn't do that."

"I'm sorry." Grace said. "I guess I'm just used to people running away from me."

Reid held her closer. "I'm sorry." he whispered.

"No one wants to admit that there's any bit of unhappiness in the world that can't be fixed with money. They like their ignorant, happy lives. I'm like a disease, they don't want to catch what I have."

"What do you have?" Reid asked, curious as to whether his guess was correct.

Grace shook her head. "I've never been diagnosed with anything, but I know something's wrong. I can be so happy sometimes. So happy that it's almost scary, but then, I don't know, it's like there's a worm or a splinter in my brain or like a piece of it has rotted or like I use up all my serotonin and then I can't feel happiness for days. People, all they see is the sad me, so they stay away cuz they think I'm some stupid pessimist, so then I get sad again and the cycle just repeats."

Grace began to cry again.

"I'm not going to stay away. The Grace Ashton I know is the happy one and I want to see her again."

Grace cracked a smile. "Thank you," she said. "For everything you've done for me. Helping me on my first case, last night, this."

"You're welcome." Reid said, relieved to finally see her stop crying. "Grace, have you ever _thought_ of having a psychiatric evaluation? They could give you anti-depressants, you wouldn't have to feel this way."

Grace shook her head. "No, no way. No drugs. No. I'm not taking pills to treat depression when their side effects include suicidal thoughts. That makes no sense. I hate anti-depressants. They've ruined some of the greatest people I know."

"What about therapy?" he suggested.

Grace stubbornly shook her head again. "Doesn't work, I've tried it so many times. I've even been hospitalized. Talking about my problem doesn't help, I know what the problem is, well, essentially. I want to know how to fix it, but they don't tell you that. They want to lay blame on my mother, my father, me. I don't think anyone is to blame, well, except myself, but it's all about chemicals in my head not working right. The actions of myself and other people are not the cause of it, they just tend to make it worse."

"What were you hospitalized for?"

"Stuff like this."

Reid nodded. They were silent for awhile. He could hear Grace's heartbeat gradually slowing down, her breathing returning to its regular pace. Her tears had stopped falling and he could feel them drying on his collar bone. His heart skipped a beat every time she blinked, making her wet eyelashes tickle his skin. He ran his hand through her long blonde hair, which smelled faintly of flowers. His palms began to sweat as he was possessed by the urge to kiss her.

Was this the right time? Of course not, half an hour ago she was about to kill herself, but aybe that made it the right time.

He looked at her for a moment and tried to compile a mental list of the pros and cons.

Morgan's voice popped into his head and said, "This might be your only chance, kid. Make a move or you might regret it."

He pressed his lips gently against the top of her head.

Grace looked up at Reid, blinking away whatever tears still lingered in her eyes. She kissed him softly on the lips.

He kissed both of her cheekbones, which were still damp from her tears.

She kissed him on the lips, harder this time. He kissed her back even harder. She added a little bit of tongue. They continued on like this for several minutes, testing eachother's boundaries until Grace broke away.

"Spencer, stop. You don't want this."

"Grace, I want this. I want you. If I didn't-"

"I mean, _I_ don't want this, Spencer."

Grace regretted it as soon as she said it. The look on Reid's face was one of terrible pain.

"Wait, I didn't mean it like that!" she begged, clinging to him so he wouldn't leave. "What I meant was, Spencer, you don't want to get mixed up with me. I can guarantee you that almost every night will be like this one until you get sick of it and leave. Then I'll be hurt, and you were right when you said I do everything in extremes. I _feel_ everything in extremes. I don't think I can handle being hurt like that again."

Reid opened his mouth, but Grace cut him off before he could get a single word out.

"Please, Spencer, save it. They all say they won't hurt me, then they do. I'd really prefer if you never said those words, that way when you do hurt me, you aren't a liar too."

Grace saw that he was tearing up. She wished she didn't have to reject him like this. She had feelings for him, but she just couldn't let herself get hurt again.

"Spencer, please don't. It's not that I don't like you. I want you in my life. I _need _you. I just can't let myself get hurt. Please, if you really do care about me, you'll respect that."

"If you need me, why are you telling me to get out of your life?"

"No, I don't want you out of my life!" Grace cried. "Please, just be my friend. You can't hurt me that way."

Reid sighed. It wasn't exactly what he was looking for, but it was better than being out of her life completely. If this was what she wanted, if this was what would make her smile that beautiful smile of hers, this was what he would do.

"Alright." he agreed.

"Thank you." she said, wrapping her arms around him.

"Do you want me to stay again tonight?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I'd like that." Grace said. "Just remind me in the morning if we have sex this time."

Reid laughed. "Alright."

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, I have a feeling some people might be a little angry with me for this. Please don't give up on the story now though! I pinky promise that this gets better and you will enjoy the upcoming events. To be honest, this part makes me kind of angry as well. I never actually planned this until I sat down and started to write this. I had a certain way I wanted it to go, but I realized that my original plan for this chapter didn't really fit Grace's personality. **

**Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas. Please be careful during your Boxing D****ay shopping, don't get in any car accidents and don't get trampled to death by crazed shoppers. Also, be nice and don't beat anyone up over the awesome sales (unless of course, you're battling it out over Criminal Minds box sets). Is Boxing Day even like that anywhere but Canada? Maybe it's just cuz we don't have Black Friday. **

**Also, feedback, feedback, feedback! I heart feedback, and my awesome readers!**


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Grace._

* * *

The sound of the alarm clock woke Grace from a deep sleep.

"Ugh.. Spencer, could you get that?" she groaned.

When the alarm didn't stop, she rolled over and realized that he was gone.

_Again? Really?_

Grace got out of bed and began cleaning up the wreckage of the previous night. She swept up the broken liquor bottles in the kitchen and picked up the things she'd thrown around the apartment.

"Oh fuck." she sighed when she discovered that she'd ripped her favourite painting to pieces. Oh well, she'd have to find a way to fix it later, she was already late for work.

Grace quickly showered and got dressed. Instead of spending an hour on her hair, she tied it up while it was still wet. She wore a thin layer of mascara and some lip chap instead of her usual mask of black and red goo and powder.

She ran outside to her car, waving to her landlord, Mr. Jones who was working in his garden as she left. She switched the radio station from the pop station to a mellow reggae.

_Today's going to be a good day._ She told herself, pulling into the parking lot.

* * *

"Good morning beautiful!" Garcia greeted her friend. "What's with the sudden change in style?"

"Oh, I don't really know."

"So, how did it go last night?" Garcia asked.

Grace looked confused. "How did what go?"

"Reid went to your place last night, right?"

"Yeah." Grace replied. "Didn't he call you?"

Garcia shook her head.

Grace felt relieved. She had expected him to tell her what had happened.

"So, what happened? Are you two good again?" Garcia asked.

"Well, I guess so, he stayed the night. He left before I woke up again."

"He stayed the night again?"

"Yeah, we kind of... kissed."

"What? Those are the kind of details you're not supposed to leave out."

"Well, after we kissed I told him that I just want to be friends." Grace explained.

"You did what?" Garcia exclaimed. "I thought you wanted him."

Grace shook her head. "I did. I _do_. I just don't want to get hurt again. Plus he deserves so much better than me."

"How did he take it?" Garcia asked.

"He said he was OK with it, but he looked pretty hurt. He stayed when I asked him to though." Grace answered. "Where is he anyway?"

"He didn't tell you?"

Grace shook her head.

"He's in Vegas, visiting his mother. He'll be back on Monday."

"Oh." Grace said, surprised and disappointed. She had been hoping to spend the weekend with him.

She went to her desk and stared at the empty chair at the desk across from her. Today was Thursday, so that was four days that she would have to go without seeing him. Grace sighed and began on a stack of Reid's paperwork to keep her mind occupied.

"Grace Ashton?" she heard someone say her name.

She looked up to see a man holding a bouquet of roses. Her eyes widened in shock, until she noticed his uniform and realized that he was a delivery man from a florist's.

"That's me." she said.

He handed her the bouquet and told her to have a nice day.

Grace looked at the tag. There was no name on it, just a quote.

_Change your thoughts and you change your world. - Norman Vincent Peale_

"Wow, who sent you those?" JJ asked her.

"Um... there's no name on them." Grace replied. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't exactly the truth, she had a pretty good idea who they were from.

"I wish someone would send me flowers." Prentiss said.

Grace smiled and went back to the paperwork. When she was sure no one was looking, she took her cell phone out of her purse.

"You've succeeded in making all my female co-workers extremely jealous." she texted Reid.

"Did you like them?" he texted back.

"Yeah, thanks. Why didn't you tell me you were going away?"

"Sorry, I didn't think you'd care. I'll see you Monday, right?"

"Maybe. I might take off to Canada without telling you though, so don't get your hopes up."

"See you Monday."

* * *

The next day, the same delivery man showed up at Grace's desk with another bouquet.

"Thanks." Grace said.

She opened the tag on her new bouquet.

_Beauty awakens the soul to act. -Dante Alighieri_

Grace smiled. Was this why he'd been acting so different, so impulsive lately? He actually thought she was beautiful?

"Wow," Morgan said, passing Grace's desk. "When I told the kid to get some game, this isn't quite what I had in mind."

"How do you know they're from him?" Grace asked.

"Garcia tracked his credit card to the florist's shop."

"You guys are evil." Grace said. "Who else knows?"

"No one."

"Good, let's keep it that way."

"Why?"

"We're not together and we definitely do not need to get in trouble with Hotch or Strauss for this." Grace explained.

Morgan nodded. "Your secret's safe with me, Ash, but people who are 'just friends' don't send eachother roses."

* * *

Saturday morning, Grace was painting in her pyjamas when she heard the doorbell ring. That was odd, anyone who knew her would just come inside the garage and knock on the apartment door, not ring the doorbell at the garage door. She threw a sweater on and went down the stairs.

She opened the door and saw the same delivery man who had brought her flowers at work the last two days.

"Hello Bill." she greeted him by name.

"Hey Grace." he said, handing her a single rose this time. "Quite the man you've got yourself there."

Grace smiled. "He's just my friend, Bill."

"In all the years I've done this job, I've never seen any man send flowers to a girl who's just his friend." he said, shaking his head.

"Well, there's a first time for everything. Goodbye, Bill."

Grace wondered why she had only received one rose today. She looked at the tag for today's quote.

_A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world. - Leo Buscaglia_

Grace smile and went back upstairs to find a vase. When the flower was watered and put on her nightstand, she picked up the phone and dialled Reid's cell.

"Hello?" he answered.

God, it was good to hear his voice again.

"So I'm your world, am I?" Grace teased.

"If you want to be."

"Spencer..."

"I'm sorry." he apologized.

"I miss you." she choked, trying not to cry.

"I miss you too. I'll see you Monday though."

"Not soon enough." Grace whined.

Reid laughed. "I've got to go, Grace."

"No."

"I'm sorry, but I have to. Goodbye, Grace."

"Bye."

Grace hung up the phone. She looked around her room, wondering how to spend the rest of her day. After doing some laundry, she found an 80's movie marathon on TV and fell asleep on the couch, watching _Footloose_.

* * *

Grace woke the next day in the middle of the afternoon. As she got off the couch, she noticed that it was a beautiful day outside. The sun was shining and the heat resembled that of summer, not April.

_Thank God for global warming._ Grace thought.

She showered quickly and threw on a pair of denim shorts and a green tank top. She grabbed her book of Coleridge poems and sat on her balcony, reading and attempting to turn her snow white skin the faintest shade of brown.

As the air began to cool and the sun sink into the horizon, Grace heard a knock at the door.

_It's about time my flowers got here._ She thought as she walked toward the door.

When she opened the door, her heart stopped. What she saw was better than any bouquet of flowers. She jumped up and threw her arms around Reid.

"What are you doing here?" she cried.

"You said Monday wasn't soon enough."

Grace smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Hey, don't cry."

"They're happy tears."

Reid kissed her forehead. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." Grace said.

She noticed that Reid had his suitcase with him.

"Have you been home yet?"

"No, I wanted to see you."

Grace laughed. "Do you even remember what your own bed feels like?"

"No, I like yours better anyway."

"Are you asking to spend the night again?"

"Are you inviting me?"

Grace laughed again. "I guess so, but you have to promise me one thing."

"What?"

"Please don't leave before I wake up. You have no idea how much it hurts when I wake up and realize you're gone."

"Alright." Reid agreed.

Grace hugged him again. "Now come here, I want to show you something."

She took him by the hand and lead him to her balcony.

"Wow." he said, observing the view.

The sun was setting and the sky was a thousand different shades of pink, red and orange.

"Best view in town." Grace said.

The two of them sat on the balcony, wrapped in a blanket, watching the sun go down in silence.

Grace felt like this was the best moment of her life. She wondered if her and Reid were still "just friends" after these last few days. Maybe she could let her guard down a little. Maybe life could be this good. She was afraid to tell him she was ready to change her mind though. She did not want to sound like a hypocrite or some dumb bimbo who had no idea what she wanted.

She moved closer to him and he lifted her onto his lap and tightened his grip on her waist. He watched her watch the sunset. He may not be able to call her his, but at least he could have this. He kissed the top of her head. He really did have the best view in town.

* * *

**A/N: Awwww. I told you guys it gets better.**

**So, I'm kind of disappointed that I haven't got any new feedback lately. If you guys want me to keep writing, I'd like to know. **

**Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this one. Next one will probably be up tomorrow.**


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Grace._

* * *

Grace didn't hear the alarm clock, but she knew it was time to wake up when she felt Reid move beside her. She opened her eyes and found herself staring into his.

"Good morning." she said, finding it hard to believe that he'd actually stayed.

"Good morning." he smiled.

"How long have you been watching me sleep?" Grace asked nervously.

"46 minutes now."

"I wasn't looking for specifics, but OK." she laughed. "Do you want some breakfast?"

"Not really, but I'll take some coffee."

"I don't have coffee."

"You don't have coffee?"

"No, I don't drink that disgusting garbage."

"Then why do you always have so much energy?" he groaned.

"Fruit smoothies, natural energy. That and my super powers of course."

Reid laughed and shook his head. Grace kissed his cheek before bouncing out of bed and into the kitchen. He closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep, but the sound of the blender forced him out of bed and into the shower.

* * *

As Grace chopped up a banana and threw it in the blender, she thought about how perfect she'd felt the night before, watching the sunset in Spencer's arms. She decided that today, when she found the right time, she would tell him how she really felt. She would tell him that she was ready to let him in, ready to risk it all just to be able to feel that feeling again.

* * *

Reid stepped out of the bathroom and followed the glorious aroma of coffee into the kitchen. On Grace's small table was a steaming mug of java.

"So you did have coffee." he said.

Grace gasped and jumped. "Jesus Christ!" she exclaimed. "Don't scare me like that, I'm not used to you actually sticking around here in the morning. And no, I went over and got some from Mrs. Jones."

"Sorry." he said, taking a sip of coffee. "Sugar?"

"Of all the terms of endearment you could use, you would have to use the one I hate the most."

"No, I meant, do you have any sugar?"

"Oh!" Grace laughed, setting the jar on the table.

She watched as he poured enough sugar in his coffee to kill a diabetic.

"You look nice today." she remarked. He was wearing his pink shirt and black vest.

"Thanks."

"Do you wear your gun like that to turn me on?" Grace asked.

Reid seemed to be a bit taken aback by this question. "Uh.. no, but does it?"

Grace blushed and nodded.

"Oh shit!" she exclaimed. "We're late!"

She ran to the shower and was ready in 20 minutes.

* * *

"So, we probably shouldn't walk in there together." Grace said, tearing her lips away from Reid's as they sat in her car in the parking lot at Quantico.

"Why?"

Grace raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah."

"You go in, I'll follow in a minute."

"OK." Reid said, opening the car door.

"Wait!" Grace gave him a quick peck on the lips, then he walked up the steps and into the building.

When she was sure he had reached the bullpen, she did a quick mirror check and followed.

* * *

Reid went to his desk and noticed that over half the mountain of paperwork had disappeared. He noticed a note stuck on one of the folders.

_Seriously, put the crossword puzzle down and do some of these!_

He recognized Grace's flawless handwriting and laughed. He definitely owed her now.

"Hey kid, how was Vegas?" Morgan asked.

Reid had completely forgotten he had even left town.

"It was good." he replied.

"How's your mom?"

"She's alright." he said, noticing Grace enter the room. "Please don't talk about her in front of Grace."

"Why not? Are you ashamed of her?"

"No, I just think it's too early for her to know that much about me."

Morgan just shook his head. "There are way too many secrets around here since she came along."

"Since who came along?" Grace asked curiously as she sat down at her desk.

"You." Morgan replied.

"What kind of secrets are you talking about?" Grace swallowed a lump in her throat, hoping they hadn't found the skeletons in her closet.

"Well, for starters, Garcia's found some interesting dirt on you."

"L-like what?"

Grace and Reid both got up from their desks and followed Morgan to Garcia's office. As they stepped in, the speakers blared with the sound of a guitar and some angst-filled lyrics.

"How did you find this?" Grace cried.

"OK, don't be mad at me." Garcia said. "I wasn't _trying_ to get dirt on you, I just wanted to add you on Myspace and I found your regular profile and your music page."

Grace was speechless. She was beginning to think that she'd rather her co-workers had found the skeletons.

"It's actually really good." Garcia said.

Morgan laughed. "Yeah, if you lived in Seattle in the 90's."

Garcia elbowed him.

"Hey!" he exclaimed.

"Your country stuff puts Taylor Swift to shame, Grace." Garcia said, changing the song. "Oh, and the rap!"

"I swear, Pen, if you click that, I will go to your house and tear your entire closet to shreds!"

"Too late!"

Grace covered her face in embarrassment.

"So why aren't you singing professionally?" Garcia asked.

Grace shrugged. "They make the Canadian music industry seem so great down here, but in reality, it sucks if you're anywhere but Toronto or Montreal. That and over half my production team is in jail. The other half isn't even on this continent anymore. Anyway, you guys can stay here and enjoy my dirty secrets, I've got work to do."

Reid followed her back to her desk.

"Those were actually really good." he said.

"Thanks." Grace blushed.

"Why don't you sing anymore?"

She shrugged. "It's not really my thing anymore."

"Well, I think you should make it your thing again."

"Well, I'll consider it and get back to you."

* * *

As the day passed by, Reid's cell phone rang constantly. Grace was curious as to who was trying to call him, but didn't want to ask. She watched as he began to sweat and get nervous. He would tap on the desk for a minute then begin to write a text. He would get frustrated and close his phone then repeat the cycle.

"Grace?" he whispered.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to leave early, can I still see you tonight?"

Grace nodded. "Of course."

"Alright, see ya." Reid said, leaving his desk in such a hurry that he forgot his cell phone.

"Hey, you for-" Grace began, but stopped when the phone started to buzz in her hand.

_New Text Message from: Lila Archer_, it read.

_Hurry up and get here, sexy._

Grace felt her blood begin to boil. She snapped the phone shut and thought she might be sick. She stormed into Garcia's office where her and Morgan were still listening to her music.

"Who the fuck is Lila Archer?" Grace demanded, fighting back tears.

Garcia and Morgan exchanged a look.

"Well, she's a celebrity, hun." Garcia said nervously. "Why do you want to know?"

Grace flipped Reid's phone open and began reading the texts in his inbox in a mock bimbo tone.

"Hey honey, I'm in town for a few days, come visit me." She open another one. "Please? I miss you." Another one. "You can't say it meant nothing to you. Come on, I want to see you again." "I knew you missed me! Now get your ass down here." "Hurry up and get here, sexy."

"What the fuck is this?" Grace sobbed.

Garcia hugged her friend.

Morgan sighed. "She's a girl he had a thing with in LA. She was being stalked and we were working her case. I thought they were through though."

Grace sobbed even harder. "Obviously they're not!"

"I'll call him and see what he's up to." Morgan offered.

"I have his phone, genius!"

"Shit."

"Grace, why are you acting like a jealous girlfriend?" Garcia asked. "I thought you two agreed to just be friends."

"Yeah," Morgan added. "Did you seriously think you could have your cake and eat it too?"

Grace just cried harder. She should have seen this coming. Of course a guy as amazing as Reid would have someone else wanting him, why would he stick around after she'd rejected him? She stayed in Garcia's office, crying until her co-workers began to leave.

"Are you gonna be OK?" Garcia asked her.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna stick around here and catch up on some work." Grace replied. "You go home to Kevin, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Grace said, faking a smile.

"Alright, but if you need anything, promise you'll call?"

Grace nodded.

* * *

Reid got out of the cab and entered the hotel lobby. He walked past the front desk and went straight to the elevator. He got out on the third floor and went to the door of Lila's room. He knocked three times and she opened the door within seconds.

She threw her arms around him and began to kiss him.

Reid thought he was going to be sick. This was wrong. He hated himself for even showing up, but he had to put an end to this.

"Lila, stop." he said, pushing her away.

She rolled her eyes. "Stop playing hard to get, Spencer, you know you can't resist me."

He shook his head. "Lila, there's something I need to tell you."

She circled around him, blocking the door.

"I don't want to be with you anymore." he continued.

She laughed.

"I'm serious. I'm tired of being your rebound. I'm tired of you calling whenever you get rejected and whenever you feel bad about yourself and need to know you can still have power over someone to make yourself feel better. I'm never answering your calls again. I'm tired of being used. I'm done boosting your ego for you. Please, just leave me alone."

"Last time I saw you, you begged me not to leave. What happened?"

"I was high the last time I saw you, and I've found someone else. Someone a whole lot prettier and nicer and smarter than you."

"Y-you what?" Lila stammered. "What's her name?"

"Grace," he replied. "Grace Ashton."

Lila sneered and whipped her cell phone out of her pocket. She opened the Facebook app and searched for Grace. She laughed cruelly.

"Eww." she said. She scrolled through the page. "Boring. Oh, did you know she's listed as single? What, is she ashamed to be dating you?"

"We're not official. And you were ashamed to admit you'd ever been with me." Reid said. "I'm leaving now, could you please get out of my way?"

Lila shook her head. "Kiss me goodbye first, Spencer."

"No."

"Fuck me, Spencer." she said, not budging from the door. "Then you'll see who's better, who deserves you more. She can't do the things I can, Spencer."

Spencer wanted to hit her, but he knew he couldn't. He thought of calling Prentiss and having her come help him out, a girl could hit another girl, right? Or he could call 9-1-1, this was unlawful confinement after all. He reached into his pocket for his cell phone, but it wasn't there.

He had to come up with a plan and fast. He looked around the hotel room and figured it out.

"Alright, Lila. You're right." he said, walking toward the bed. "No one could ever make me feel the way you make me feel."

He laid on the bed and patted the space next to him.

"Honestly?"

"Honestly." he lied.

Lila bought it. She jumped onto the bed and started to kiss his neck and unbutton his shirt. He managed to pin her to the bed and got on top of her. She began to undo his pants. He kissed her neck and she arched her back. When she relaxed her muscles, he jumped up and ran for the door.

"Spencer! Come back!" she called down the hall as he hit the "door close" button in the elevator repeatedly.

It closed in her face and he sighed in relief. He buttoned his shirt and pants and got out on the first floor. As he stepped out, the door of the second elevator opened and he saw her step out. He ran out of the hotel into the pouring rain. He looked over his shoulder and saw Lila trip trying to run in her high heels. He ran several blocks until he found an empty cab and hopped in and ordered the driver to Grace's apartment.

* * *

Grace sat at her desk at Quantico and stared at her computer screen, looking for a move in her 100th game of solitaire. She checked her phone for what must have been the millionth time since Reid had left. Nothing.

She sighed. She wanted to go home and sleep, but she knew that in this situation, she was safer at Quantico. There was no way she would hurt herself here. No way would she let her friends find her dead when they came to work in the morning.

She decided to Google this Lila Archer.

What she found shocked her. This girl could have been her twin.

She dug deeper and found a tabloid article with a picture of Reid and Lila. She choked back her tears and read it.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you!" she heard Reid exclaim behind her.

She spun around to face him. "And what makes you think I'm glad to see you?"

He stared at her in disbelief. After what he'd just went through for her...

He noticed the web page on her monitor.

"Oh Grace, no..."

"Save it." she said, getting up to leave.

He grabbed her arm. "Please, Grace, just hear me out!"

"No." she said. "You blew it. I'm leaving tomorrow. I don't want to see you again. You can have your stupid movie star bimbo."

"Grace, it's not like that." Reid said, beginning to cry.

Grace looked him in the eye and began to cry as well. "Then what is it like, Spencer?"

"I went to tell her to leave me alone." he explained.

"Then why is her lipstick on your collar?"

Reid looked down at his shirt. He had been in such a hurry to find Grace that he hadn't even noticed it. "She forced herself on me, Grace, I swear. I know this looks bad, but it's the truth."

"So you just let her put her lips all over you?"

"What could I do, Grace? She's a girl, I couldn't hit her."

Grace wanted to smile, but she knew she couldn't break. She loved how even in that kind of a situation, he was still so sweet and caring.

"Honestly, Grace. I went and I told her I was done with her and that I only wanted to be with you."

He got down on his knees. "Please forgive me, Grace." he begged. "Please."

Grace looked him in the eye. She knew there could be no way he was lying.

"I forgive you." she said.

Reid got up off his knees and wrapped his arms around Grace. He buried his face in her hair and cried. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry,"

Grace ran her hands through his wet hair and rubbed his back. "Shhh... It's OK, Spencer. I forgive you."

"You're the best, you know that right?"

Grace smiled and shook her head. "Come on, let's go home."

* * *

"Hey, your suitcase is still here!" Grace remarked as they entered her bedroom. "Are you trying to move in or something?"

"Can I?" Reid asked hopefully.

Grace shook her head. "Spencer, I think it's a bit too early for that. We're still just friends, remember?"

The look on his face made her feel like she had just kicked a puppy.

"You can stay whenever you like though. I'll even get a key made for you."

He smiled and hugged her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." she said. "Now get out of those wet clothes before you get sick."

Spencer knew that if he was going to get sick, the damage was already done, but he decided to humour her. He opened his suitcase only to discover that most of the clothing inside it was dirty.

"Um... Grace?"

"What Spencer?" she called from inside her closet.

"I need clothes."

She tossed a Nirvana shirt to him. It wasn't his favourite band, but he put it on anyway. It smelled like her and it made him smile. She exited the closet a moment later in a pair of green plaid pyjama pants and a black tank top.

Even in her pyjamas, without any make-up, she was still the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. He put his hands around her waist and pulled her closer. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on the tips of her toes in an attempt to be at eye level with him, but she was still a few inches off. He pressed his forehead against hers and the tips of their noses touched. He kissed her softly.

"Spencer," she said. "I don't think I've ever been as scared as I was today when you left. All I could think about was what I would do if you chose her over me. I was so scared."

"Shhh... it's OK. I'm here now. I'm yours. As long as you want me, I'm yours." he whispered.

"I'm falling for you harder than I thought I would and it scares me Spencer. I'm so scared. I want you, but I don't want to lose you as a friend. I don't want to get hurt."

He kissed her again. "I'm not going to hurt you. Never. I promise."

"I want to believe you, Spencer, I really do. I'm trying."

"It's a start. Take as long as you need to, Grace. I'll wait forever."

"Thank you."

He kissed her forehead. "Anything for you, Grace."

He pulled her into bed and they fell asleep in eachother's arms.

At five in the morning, both Spencer and Grace's cell phones rang simultaneously.

"Spencer," Grace said. "Spencer, wale up."

"Five more minutes." he groaned.

Grace shook him. "Spencer! It's JJ, we have a case! Get up!"

* * *

**A/N: Awwwww! Spencer!**

**So I watched Somebody's Watching for the first time tonight. I don't know why, but I imagined Lila as a redhead. So, I was kind of shocked by how much she resembles Grace. Grace is curvier though and she's got frekcles and green eyes and her hair looks kind of orange in a certain light. Also, she's got like a million scars all over her body. Her scars kind of put Foyet's to shame, but more about that later.**

**So I guess Grace and Lila aren't _that_ much alike, I just didn't expect her to be blonde. I was really avoiding the episode because I'm quite jealous, but I just kind of replaced her face with mine when I watched it. Spencer was so adorable in that episode, I regret not watching it sooner. I just want to replay that pool scene over and over.**

**Oh, so when I began the draft of Chapter 1, Grace's last name was originally Asher. I was like "This sounds great, but it sounds too familiar." So I was on here reading some fics like I usually do instead of studying for Trig & 3-Space and then I realized that Asher and Archer are just too close. Then after I published chapter 2 where Grace makes everyone call her Ash instead of Ashton, I realized that Ash is the guy from Pokemon. Oh well, it's not like I can change it now.**

**Anyway, thanks for the reviews, please keep them coming! Stay tuned for the next chapter! It is going to be epic. Honestly, it'll be like "OMG! Holy shit!" then you'll be gripping the edge of your seats then you're going to be like "OMG, awww! Finally!" and Grace kicks some major ass in this next one. But don't quote me on that because I don't even have it started yet and I have to go shopping tomorrow and write a bunch of essays and make a giant powerpoint and read like half of a law text book on consumer law. Ugh... consumer law sucks, shoot me!**

**So, it's like 6 am here and I didn't sleep all night because my power was out and I couldn't fall asleep then it came back on and I watched Somebody's Watching then I wrote this. So, goodnight/goodmorning. I don't even know which it is anymore.**


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Grace._

* * *

Grace and Reid got out of bed and got ready. When they arrived at Quantico, it was still dark outside. The two of them entered the BAU together and no one seemed to have noticed. They took the last empty seat in the conference room, on opposite sides of the table.

When JJ saw that everyone was there, she began. "Police in New Brunswick, Canada have been finding bodies with the same stab wounds for about a month now. So far there's been five victims, all found in the woods, but they're moved there post-mortem. The last victim was found last night in a park."

"So why have we been called in?" Prentiss asked. "Isn't that a little out of our jurisdiction?"

"The local police asked for our help. It's Ash's hometown and they think she might be able to help." JJ replied.

She clicked a button and pictures of the victims' bodies showed up on the screen.

Grace thought she was going to be sick. Her head spun and she fought it back while the others discussed the pictures.

"Am I crazy, or do those look like C-section marks?" Prentiss wondered out loud.

"They are cut the same way, but he missed the uterus by miles." JJ said.

"Could he possibly have medical training?" Morgan asked.

"Not if it's this sloppy."

Grace stood up and everyone turned to look at her. "I- I uh... I know exactly who we're looking for." she said, rolling up her shirt to reveal a scar that resemble the cuts on the victims.

"Grace. How did-" Reid began. He just wanted to get up and take her out of this place, but he knew he couldn't.

"When I was 13, I met this guy, Josh Peterson." Grace sighed. "I didn't realize at first how many drugs he was on or how dangerous he could be when he was mad. He hit me... a lot, but I kept telling myself that he loved me and didn't mean to hurt me.

"One night, we were on the walking trails behind the school and the hospital with a few of his friends. When his friends went home, we decided to stick around a bit longer. He took some more acid and started to trip.

"When you take acid and you're not in the right mindset, things turn ugly. When he would trip, he would talk about some pretty messed up stuff. One of his favourite things to talk about was how he wanted to put a foetus through a meat-grinder.

"He took a switchblade out of his pocket and told me to hold still, I was going to have an abortion. I kept telling him I wasn't pregnant, but he wouldn't listen. He cut into me, just like those girls. I punched him in the face and ran. Thankfully the hospital was right there. They fixed me up, but no charges were ever pressed. The cops, they said that I either did it myself for attention or I deserved it. My dad's friends scared him out of town and I haven't seen him since."

The whole team just stared at her. She wanted to cry.

"I'm uh... I'm gonna go be sick now." she said and bolted for the door.

* * *

Grace sat on the bathroom floor, crying her eyes out. She wanted Spencer to come and fix this, but she knew he wouldn't risk it.

"Grace? Are you in here?" she heard someone call.

"Yeah." she said, hoping it was Spencer.

Her hopes were dashed when Emily came around the corner.

"Hey, are you going to be alright?" she asked.

Grace nodded.

"We're gonna catch this sick bastard, I promise."

Grace nodded and stood up.

"They're all waiting for you."

* * *

On the plane, Grace finally made eye contact with Reid.

"Spencer, I need you." she thought desperately, hoping that he possessed the powers of telekinesis.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was a text from Reid.

"I'm sorry. You know I'd be over there with you if I could."

She texted back, "It's OK, Spence. I'll be fine."

"I'm sorry, I promise I'll make this up to you."

A tear rolled down Grace's cheek. She decided to go to sleep and not think about this case until they landed. As she slept, Reid watched her from the other side of the plane. He watched helplessly as she tossed and turned. She was having a nightmare, but there was nothing he could do to stop it.

* * *

When they arrived at the local police department, Hotch sent Morgan, Rossi and Reid to the most recent crime scene to see if they could figure out why the unsub changed his dump sites.

"Grace, you stay here." Hotch said. "Prentiss will have to interview you to help get a better profile."

"So I'm a witness now?"

"Did you actually expect to be working this case?"

"Yes, I did." Grace replied. "It is my job after all."

"I'm sorry, Ash," Hotch said. "It's a conflict of interest."

"Conflict of interest, my ass!" she yelled. "You know damn well that I'm more useful out there looking for the bastard than I am, locked up in an interrogation room. I want to catch him just as much, if not more than you do!"

"And that's exactly why you're staying here. Your judgement will be clouded and you won't even consider the possibility of another unsub."

"Do I need to show you my scars again? There is no other unsub!"

"I'm sorry Ash, but that's the way it is. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to meet with the department chief."

Grace sighed as he walked away.

"I'm sorry we have to do this, Ash." Prentiss said.

Grace shook her head. "It's alright. He has a point. Do you mind if I make a phone call first?"

"Yeah, go ahead, I'll be in here when you're ready." Prentiss said, pointing in the direction of the interrogation room.

Grace walked down the hallway and around a corner. She pulled out her cell and dialled Reid's number.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Spencer!" she cried.

"Grace, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Spencer, he took me off the case. I'm a fucking witness!"

"Grace, it's probably better this way. It's a conflict of interest. You have a biased opinion."

"You're supposed to be on my side, Spencer."

"I'm sorry, Grace, but it's the truth."

"Spencer, I don't want to tell Emily about it." Grace whimpered. "I don't want to tell _anyone_ about it. I've spent ten years of my life trying to forget it ever happened."

"Grace, I know it's hard, but you have to try. Someone's life could depend on it."

Grace sighed, "OK, I'll try."

"Thank you, Grace. Call me if you need anything."

"OK." Grace said. "Spencer?"

"Yeah?"

"Please be careful out there."

"I will. Goodbye, Grace."

"Bye."

* * *

"So what could have possibly made this guy change where he dumps the bodies?" Morgan wondered out loud, surveying the park.

"He could be getting more confident." Rossi suggested.

"Or it could be a cry for help." Morgan said. "'Stop me before I kill again.'"

Reid shook his head. "Usually when the dump site is a cry for help, there's a note. Most unsubs feel misunderstood, they wouldn't risk having their symbolism misunderstood. They'll write us a letter and leave it with the body or write something on the wall with the victim's blood."

"Then why do you think he's changed?" Rossi asked.

"Well, he could be seeking media attention by moving to a more open area like this. Or there could be some kind of stressor. Or the dump sites could have some kind of personal meaning for him."

"And which one is your personal opinion?"

"I don't know. I think maybe we should have Grace look at them."

* * *

Grace stepped out of the black SUV and looked around the park. It was just how she remember it, decrepit benches and playground, used syringes and broken bottles scattered across the ground. The grass was unkempt and the flowerbeds were overgrown with weeds. The rain only added to the miserable feeling of the place.

"God, I am glad to be out of that interrogation room." Grace said. "Emily, you are the definition of the word intimidating."

"I'm sorry, I was just doing what Hotch told me."

Grace's teammates looked at her with concern. They saw right through her laughter.

"So what do you guys need from me, anyway?" she asked.

"We think that he might be dumping the bodies in places that mean something to him." Reid said.

"Since you know Peterson best, we thought maybe you could tell us what these places mean to him." Morgan added.

Grace nodded.

"We should probably start with the first dump site." Rossi suggested.

The five of them head into the woods behind the park and walked along the trail. Grace and Reid hung back.

"Are you sure you want to hear this?" Grace whispered.

"If it's going to help us catch this guy."

Grace shook her head. "That's the thing though, it probably won't. It's just extraneous information that I don't want you to hear."

"It can't be that bad."

"But it is. I don't want you to know details."

"Grace, I'll find out even if you tell someone else." he sighed. "I want you to trust me."

"And I want you to be able to trust me." Grace insisted. "Some of the things you're about to find out aren't exactly going to make that easier."

He grabbed her hand. "Grace, I don't care. None of this is going to change how I feel about you."

"Thank you."

They stopped when they reached the first dump site.

Grace looked around. It was a spot not too far off of the trail. There was a large rock there, covered in graffiti.

"This is where he stabbed me." she said.

"Anything else?" Morgan asked.

"We walked this trail everyday after school. There could be _something_ else, but I don't really remember. It's been ten years."

They went on to the next dump site, beneath a bridge on the trail.

Grace sighed.

"He um... he..." she began to cry. "I can't do this."

"Would you feel more comfortable if you just told me?" Prentiss asked.

Grace nodded and Prentiss motioned for the men to leave.

"He used to trade me to his friends for drugs."

"So he let them rape you?" she asked, disgusted.

Grace shook her head. "There was never... penetration. We were fourteen. It was mostly just groping, but it's what started my fear of sex."

"I can imagine."

"The night he stabbed me, I was down here with his friends. He came down and said that he'd finally caught me and he called me a whore then he started to hit me."

"I'm sorry."

The men came back and they went to the next dump site. Grace and Reid looked at eachother for a moment then Grace looked away, ashamed of what she'd done ten years ago. What were the chances he would still want her when he found out?

The third dump site was off the trail about half a mile, behind a tree, on the shore of the river.

"This was where he first hit me." Grace said. "We were hanging out and I told him his hair was getting long and he should cut it. He got offended, told me I was a bitch for not accepting him how he was. I just thought he could see better if his hair wasn't in his eyes..."

Prentiss put her hand on Grace's shoulder.

"You know, after all the therapy, after turning my life around, there's still a part of me that thinks I deserved this." Grace said.

Everyone was silent, but Grace could see the sympathy on their faces. She didn't want their sympathy. She wanted to catch her ex before he could hurt another girl, before this case got to her too badly.

They arrived back at the park.

"This is where we first kissed." she said.

"That's it?" Morgan said.

Grace thought for a moment. "As far as I remember, why?"

"Well, the other dump sites, the things that happened there were pretty extreme, but this is..."

"He's working the relationship backwards." Reid said.

Rossi's phone began to ring.

"Can I leave now?" Grace asked. "Since I'm not even on this case, I want to go back to the hotel and sleep."

Reid nodded. "I'll drive you."

"Thanks." Grace said.

"That was Hotch." Rossi said, closing his phone. "He says we need to be profiling the unsub, not Peterson."

Grace and Reid got in one SUV while the rest of the team got in the other. Most of the drive was spent in silence. Grace was turned away from him, staring out the window with her arms wrapped around herself. She sounded as if she was crying, but it did not sound like her usual sobs.

"Grace, what's wrong?" Reid asked.

She ignored him.

"Grace, please talk to me." he begged.

"Why should I talk to you?" she said, still staring out the window. "You don't even want to be with me anymore."

Reid stopped the vehicle in the hotel parking lot. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm pathetic, I'm broken, I've been abused and sold for drugs, I'm disgusting! Why would you want to be with me after knowing all that?"

"Grace, none of those things are _who_ you are, you had no control over them. You didn't _ask_ him to hit you or stab you or let his friends touch you. Stop letting it define you."

Grace held her head in her hands and sobbed. Reid kissed the top of her head and got out of the SUV. He went around to the passenger side and opened the door for Grace. He reached over her and unbuckled her seatbelt for her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face into his shoulder. He held her for a moment until she stopped crying. Then he lifted her out of the car and stood her on the ground. He put his arm around her shoulder and walked her inside the hotel. They checked in and went up to the second floor to Grace's room.

She had a single room. As the newest member of the BAU, she had made their numbers un-even. She liked having a single room, she enjoyed her privacy. She sat on the bed and stared at the wall with a blank expression on her face.

"Will you be OK if I leave?" Reid asked.

Grace nodded.

"Call me if you need anything."

"Wait!" Grace said, reaching for his hand.

She pulled him closer and wrapped her arms around him.

"Grace, I have to get back."

"Spencer, please stay with me." Grace pleaded.

"Grace, seriously, they're starting to get suspicious. Dave was questioning me before you showed up."

"Well, if we're going to get in trouble, we might as well make it worth while." she said, pulling him onto the bed.

"Wh-What do you mean?"

She kissed him on the lips. "Spencer, I don't want to be 'just friends' anymore."

He kissed her back. "Oh, Grace, thank you."

"Don't thank me, Spencer, it's all you. You've changed my mind about this whole relationship thing. I've been hurt so many times, I thought the best way to never get hurt again was to just never love again."

He kissed her again. "I'm not going to hurt you, Grace, I promise. I'll never hurt you and I'll never let anyone else hurt you. I'm going to make him pay for what he did to you."

Reid took off Grace's sweater and then her shirt. He kissed the large scar on her stomach then he kissed every other scar he could see.

When he kissed the scars on her wrists, he said, "And when I said 'anyone', I meant you too."

He continued to her shoulders, then rolled her over and kissed her back. Halfway down, he discovered a small tattoo of a poppy flower.

"What's this?"

"What's what?"

"Your tattoo."

Reid's phone rang before he could get an answer from Grace.

"OK, I'm on my way." He said. "Grace, Hotch wants me down at the station, I have to go."

She kissed his cheek. "I know."

"I'll be back as soon as I can." he promised, kissing her on the forehead.

"I'll be waiting."

* * *

It was exactly 10:37 when Reid knocked on the door of Grace's hotel room. He remembered the time because he had checked before knocking so he could calculate how long it had been since he had last seen her. It had been eight hours and twenty-five minutes since he had kissed her goodbye.

"Grace, are you awake?"

No answer.

"Grace?" he knocked again, louder this time.

Morgan approached him. "Give it up, kid, let her sleep."

"She said she's wait up for me." Reid said.

He tried the door, it was unlocked. He looked at Morgan. The both took out their guns and carefully entered the room.

Grace's shoes were on the floor by the bed and the room was in a total state of disarray. Lamps were knocked on the floor, the drawers of the desk were on the opposite side of the room and the television screen was busted.

"H-he's got her, Morgan. I should have seen this. All the dump sites, the M.O., it's all about her. He was trying to lure her back here. I promised her I wouldn't let anyone hurt her, I told her I'd catch him"

"Calm down, Reid." Morgan said. "I'll get the team together, we'll get her back."

* * *

"You sick fuck!" Grace screamed at Peterson. "Let me out of here!"

Grace looked at her surroundings. It was dark and she had a bag over her head when he'd brought her in, but she could tell from the cold, damp atmosphere and the dripping pipes above her head that she was in a basement.

"If I let you out, you'll just leave me again." Peterson said.

Grace stared at him through the bars of her cell. "Please, let me go. You need help, I can get you help."

He shook his head. "If I let you go, I'll have to kill them." he said, stepping out of the way to reveal a very pregnant woman in another cell.

"You son of a bitch!" she screamed.

"Kill her, Josh! Kill her!" the woman screamed. "This is all her fault, kill her!"

It all made sense to her now. Her ex had told his girlfriend that she had wronged him in their relationship in an attempt to gain her sympathy. It had worked. When the girlfriend discovered she was pregnant, he had told her what he had to do. To survive, she told him to kill other girls and to kill Grace because everything was her fault.

* * *

"Reid, you're staying here." Hotch ordered.

"What? No, I have to find Grace." he insisted.

"I see what's going on between you two, and I'm putting an end to it."

"Hotch," Morgan said. "This isn't about them. One of our teammates has been kidnapped by an unsub and we only have so much time before he kills her!"

"Fine, Reid you're on this, but we're going to have to talk about you and Grace when we get back to Quantico."

The team split up and headed to the address Garcia had found for them.

"Morgan?" Reid said.

"What, kid?"

"He won't kill her. She knows how to protect herself... right?"

* * *

Peterson opened the door of the cell. He tried to back Grace into a corner. She saw the knife in his hand. She thought it was strange that he had taken her gun from her, but was still using the knife.

He began to raise the knife and bring it closer to her abdomen. She raised her knee as if she were going to kick him in the groin. He instinctively covered his crotch with both his hands. Instead of kicking him though, she rammed her fingers into his eye sockets. He covered his eyes and screamed in pain. Grace bolted for the door, but Peterson grabbed her shirt and she tripped and fell on the hard, concrete floor.

Peterson got on top of her and tried to rip her pants off of her. Grace kicked and screamed, struggling as hard as she could, but it was no use. Peterson tried to cover her mouth with his hand, but she bit it, drawing a lot of blood.

"You bitch!" Peterson exclaimed.

He punched Grace hard in the face. She felt her nose break and begin to bleed. Then, before she even had time to blink, she felt the knife enter her shoulder.

"Spencer!" she screamed.

"No one's going to help you." Peterson growled. "Your own mother didn't even care about you, why would anyone else?"

With a rush of adrenaline, Grace threw Peterson off of her and pinned him down, beat on him as hard as she could. She struggled to take his knife, but he kept a firm grip on it. Grace's energy soon depleted as her cut bled profusely.

She fell to the floor and her eyes began to close. She felt herself losing consciousness as the knife tore into her abdomen.

She heard Spencer call her name.

She knew she was dying. She was hearing auditory hallucinations.

"Grace!"

"Spencer!" she choked.

"Put the knife down, Peterson!" she heard Morgan yell.

Peterson laughed. "Never."

Grace felt the knife tear into her again.

Then there was a single gunshot. Grace heard people yelling, running around, sirens outside.

"Grace, Grace, talk to me!" she heard Spencer cry. "Please, Grace, say something!"

"Spencer..." she groaned.

She heard him sigh in relief. "Hold on, Grace, there's an ambulance coming. It's going to OK. Just hold on, please."

* * *

**A/N: Cliffhanger!**

**Muahahaha! I'm so evil.**

**In all seriousness though, this was a really hard chapter for me to write. It was really emotional for me, so I'd really appreciate some reviews. Blood, sweat and tears for a coupl reviews sounds like a fair trade, right?**

**Oh, I hope you're all satisfied that Grace and Spencer are now official. I'm super stoked about it.**

**Chapter 10 is already in progress, so it should be up fairly soon.**


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer: I own nothing except Grace and the rest of my original characters._

* * *

Reid paced the waiting room at the hospital. The whole team was there, waiting for news on Grace. She had been in the OR for four hours and they were all on edge.

"Sit down and stop beating yourself up, kid." Morgan said.

"I can't."

"None of this is your fault."

"Yes it is." Reid said.

Morgan shook his head then answered his phone before it even rang.

"No, Baby Girl. No news yet." he said.

"What's taking so long?" Garcia cried.

"We don't know." Morgan replied. "I've told you fifty times now, I'll call you when we know anything."

"I'm going to get on a plane and fly up there right now if I don't hear anything in sixty seconds!" she threatened.

"Calm down, Penelope. You will be the first person we call when we know anything."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

He said goodbye and hung up the phone.

A nurse came to the waiting room and stood awkwardly in front of the team. Another nurse joined her two seconds later.

"Anything?" Reid begged. "How is she?"

"We were just about to ask you that." the blonde nurse said.

"We went to school with Grace. I'm Lauren, this is Kass." the brunette said. "What happened?"

"Stabbed by her ex." Prentiss answered.

The girls both lowered their heads. They understood completely.

A doctor came down the hall toward the team. They all eagerly stood up, waiting anxiously for whatever news he had.

"She's going to be alright." the doctor said. "She's in a lot of pain though. She's refusing all painkillers."

They all looked confused.

"Dr. Reid? She's asking for you."

Reid took a deep breath and walked down the hallway to Grace's room. He opened the door slowly and stood there, staring at his girlfriend.

"Grace..."

She smiled. "Spencer."

"I'm so s-"

"Don't you even dare say you're sorry. This isn't your fault. He planned this. We just didn't see it soon enough."

"But I should have." he protested.

"Spencer, I'm too tired to fight. Please just kiss me."

He smiled, leaned over her bed and kissed her.

"Why did you refuse painkillers?" he asked.

Grace sighed. "In my coat pocket."

Reid walked across the room and grabbed her coat off of a chair. In the pocket he found a coin almost identical to the one he carried in his pocket.

"Three years." Grace said proudly.

Reid went back to her bedside and reached into his pocket, pulling out his.

"Spencer..." Grace was speechless.

He reached for her hand. They stared at eachother in silence for a moment.

"What were you on?" Grace asked.

"Dilaudid." Reid replied. "What about you?"

"Everything, but by the end of it, heroin was my favourite."

"So that explains the tattoo?"

Grace nodded. "It's a reminder of how far I've come."

Reid squeezed her hand then kissed it.

"I didn't know how to handle life. I needed an escape."

"You don't have to talk about it, Grace."

"I want to though."

"You should probably rest." Reid said.

He wasn't ready to talk about his addiction and he figured Grace had re-lived enough pain in the last twenty-four hours.

"Thank you, Spencer." Grace said. "Thank you for catching him."

"Grace, we didn't actually catch him."

She looked at him in confusion.

"I killed him, Grace." Reid said. "I had to, he was just going to keep stabbing you if I just stood there."

"Thank you, Spencer. Thank you for saving me."

Reid wiped the tears from her eyes. "Grace, please don't cry."

"It hurts, it hurts so much."

"I know." he said, stroking her hair.

"I'm going to try to sleep now."

Reid nodded.

"Stay with me?"

"I will, but I'm going to go tell everyone you're alright. Oh yeah, your friends Lauren and Kass are here."

"Tell them to come in."

"When you wake up."

Grace pouted.

"When you wake up."

* * *

When Grace awoke, she saw Spencer had fallen asleep in the chair beside her bed. He hadn't even let go of her hand.

"Spencer?"

He opened his eyes. "Good morning."

Grace blushed. "Morning?"

"Uh.. yeah." Reid said. "You've slept for twenty-four hours."

"Where's everyone else?" Grace asked.

"They waited as long as they could, but there was a case." Reid said apologetically.

"That's alright," Grace said. "I understand."

"Lauren and Kass said they'd come see you after their shifts were over."

"So it's just me and you?"

Reid nodded.

Grace motioned for him to join her on the bed. He got in, careful not to touch any of her wounds.

"Are you feeling any better?" he asked.

Grace shook her head.

"I wish he had've got me."

"Spencer, please. I don't need any sympathy. I'll be fine."

He kissed her forehead. "I'm sorry, Grace. I just can't stand to see you in this kind of pain."

"The pain of the mind is worse than the pain of the body." Grace said. "Publilius Syrus." She paused. "There's no pain in my mind, Spencer. Just the opposite, actually. I feel great. I feel like I'm finally free, and I have you." She kissed him on the lips. "I'm so happy that I can't even feel my wounds."

He kissed her back.

"Spencer?"

"Yeah?"

"What's going to happen to Josh's girlfriend and their baby?" Grace asked.

"Well, she's going to prison since she's an accomplice." he replied.

"But she was a victim, he had her locked up in the basement." Grace insisted.

"Grace, our job is to catch and stop these people. We've got no say in what happens after."

Grace sighed. "I don't know how it works in the states, but here, a woman can take her children to prison with her. If she isn't charged or convicted, she's going to raise that kid to believe his father was some kind of hero. Either way, that kid is screwed."

"You don't think she'd give him up?"

She shook her head. "She told Josh to kill six women just so her baby could live. She's not going to give him up." She sighed again. "Give it twenty years and we'll be back here again."

"I'm sorry, Grace," Reid said. "But there's nothing we can do."

"I know." she whimpered.

He kissed her on the cheek. "Grace, Hotch knows about us. We have to talk to him when we get back."

"Oh no, Spencer, are we going to get fired?"

"I don't know. I want you to know that if it comes down to it, I'll choose you over my job."

"Spencer, no! You can't do that, they need you."

He looked hurt. "So you would choose the job over me?"

"No, I would choose you. This job, I'm not good at it. They all hate me. I'm the useless new kid."

"Grace, you know none of that is true. You just haven't been hardened by the job yet. You get emotionally involved in every case. Hotch is only so hard on you because he knows that your emotions can be dangerous to the team, potential victims and yourself."

"So I should just quit." Grace said.

"No, you're good at your job. If it weren't for you, we probably wouldn't have caught Elliot Stone or Josh Peterson. You're so passionate, it's one of my favourite things about you, but maybe you should focus your passion elsewhere."

Grace raised an eyebrow. "Is that some kind of hint?"

Reid grinned. "Maybe."

Grace pressed her lips against his. They lost track of time as they kissed eachother, held eachother and stroked eachother's hair.

"Grace! You never told me about him!" Lauren interrupted.

"Lauren! Kass!" she exclaimed.

The two girls went to the bed to hug their friend.

"Guys, this is Dr. Spencer Reid." Grace said.

Lauren laughed. "I see you've finally followed my lead and found yourself a doctor."

"He's not that kinds of doctor."

Reid listed all his PhDs and BAs to Grace's friends.

"Geez, don't scare them, Spencer." she laughed. "So, you and Stan are finally a thing? What's it been like seven years?" she asked Lauren.

"Not exactly." Lauren replied. "He works here though. I see him on my breaks."

Kass rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it's just like Grey's Anatomy around here."

Grace laughed.

"So how's the new job?" Kass asked.

"Well, it's exciting." she said, gesturing to her wounds. "The best part is getting to see Spencer every day."

"How much time do you get off?" Kass asked.

Grace thought for a moment. "Well, I haven't taken any time off yet, but I mean, if there's a case, that kind of cancels any vacation."

Kass reached into her purse and pulled out a small, white card. "Well, if you can, I'd like to see you at my wedding."

"Oh my god, Kass! Congratulations!" she took the wedding invitation and looked it over. "Three days before Macy's wedding?"

"Your sister's getting married?" Lauren asked. "Isn't she like, twelve?"

Grace gave her friend a stern look.

"Sorry," she said. "I just can't wrap my head around how old she actually is."

"So you'll book it off?" Kass asked.

"Yeah, I've got to anyway for Macy and Ty's."

A look of disgust appeared on Kass's face. "That dirtbag?"

"Kass, that's not fair. They love eachother, that's all that should matter." Grace protested.

"He's a pervert if he wants to be with her. I told you you should send her away."

Grace stood up. "Kass, there is nothing wrong with my sister!"

"You're in denial!" Kass shouted.

"No, you're being ignorant!"

"Whatever." Kass said, walking out of the room. "You should ditch this freak and get back with Kris, you were a while lot nicer then."

Reid put his hands on Grace's shoulders. "Grace, sit down, you don't have the energy for this."

She turned around and cried into his chest.

Lauren stood up and put a hand on Grace's back. "It's OK, Grace." she comforted her friend. "You guys will be fine again in a week, just like the million other times you guys have gotten in fights."

"It's not fair though. I've done nothing to her, but she thinks she has the right to freak out whenever I do something she doesn't like."

"You know she just wants what's best for you." Lauren said. "She just doesn't know how to show it."

"She has no right to talk about Spencer like that!"

"It's alright, Grace." Reid said.

"No, it's not! I can't believe it's been seven years and she's still going on about Kris."

Grace's head began to spin and she thought she was going to collapse. Reid caught her before she fell and helped her into bed.

"Grace, I've got to go." Lauren said. "It was nice seeing you. Get better soon, OK?"

"OK, I'll call you next time I'm back here."

"Bye Grace. Nice to meet you Dr. Reid, take good care of her, OK?"

"You too." Reid said. "And don't worry, I will."

Reid kissed Grace when Lauren left.

"So, is everyone around here crazy?" he laughed.

"You don't know the half of it." Grace laughed, falling asleep.

Grace's phone began to ring and Reid answered it before it could wake her.

"Hello?"

"Uh... hi. Who's this?" a woman asked.

""I'm Dr. Spencer Reid."

"Is Grace there? Do I have the right number?"

"Yeah, she's sleeping right now though, can I take a message?"

"Yeah," the woman said. "Can you tell her to call Charlotte when she wakes up?"

"Alright."

"Thanks. Bye."

Grace stirred from her sleep. "Who was that?" she groaned.

"Someone named Charlotte." Reid said. "You can call her after you get some rest."

* * *

**A/N: Another cliffhanger!**

**I hope you all enjoyed this one. It may not be the greatest chapter so far, I've been in bed with a migraine all day.**

**Thanks for reading, don't forget to review!**


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Grace._

* * *

"Hey, Charlotte, what's up?" Grace spoke into her phone.

The hot afternoon sun shone through the window of her hospital room. The heat was what had awoken her. Spencer was sound asleep beside her, finally looking relaxed after these last two days. She had seen her cell phone on the table beside her bed and remembered that her cousin had called for her.

"Grace, what the hell is going on? I've gotten like twenty phone calls about you and everyone's tweeting..."

"Charlie, calm down. I was stabbed on a case, I'm fine now."

"Stabbed?" Charlotte screamed.

"Charlie, calm the fuck down." she laughed.

"Why did a doctor answer your phone?" Charlotte asked.

"Oh, that was Spencer." Grace replied. "He's not _my_ doctor. Well, in a way, you could say that, I guess, but he's not _that_ kind of doctor."

Charlotte was silent for a moment, probably trying to understand what her cousin had just said. "So, he's not your doctor, but he's your doctor? I don't get it cuz, what do they have you on?"

Grace laughed. "You know I'm clean now, Char. And Spencer's my... my boyfriend."

She ran her hands through Spencer's hair, making sure he was real, making sure this wasn't some unbelievably amazing dream.

"Boyfriend?" Charlotte said. "It's about damn time, Mum and Gram keep asking me if you're a lesbian. So, when do I get to meet him?"

"You could come visit us when we get back to Virginia. Or you could wait until Macy's wedding." Grace replied

"I'll have to see when I can get time off." Charlotte said. "So, the reason I'm calling..."

"Yeah?"

"So, first of all, I need you to clean out your father's house."

"No, no I can't." Grace declined.

Charlotte sighed. "Grace, it's been three years. I paid you double what that house is worth. I want to start renting it out."

"Charlie, it's too soon. I can't."

"Listen, Grace, if you don't clear his stuff out of there, I'm going to have to send someone else in to do it. Do you really want someone else going through his stuff?"

"I guess not." Grace sighed.

"Well, I've got to go, I'll try to come see you as soon as I can."

"Alright," Grace said. "Tell Violet I miss her."

"OK, bye."

"Bye."

Grace ended the call and turned back to face Reid.

"Who was that?" he groaned, his eyes still closed.

"My cousin Charlotte."

"What did she want?"

Grace bit her lip. "Spencer?" she said nervously. "When am I getting out of here."

"Doctor said you should be out tomorrow." Reid answered.

"Could you do me a favour? And it's OK if you say no, I was just wondering."

Reid opened his eyes. "What is it?"

Grace bit her lip again. She really did not want to ask him this, but she did not want to have to do this alone. "It's alright if you don't want to. I mean, I understand, we've only been official for like thirty-six hours now and I don't think I've even been conscious for half of that. So, it's not like you have any obligation or responsibility or anything. I would be totally OK with it, if you said no. I mean-"

"Grace," he interrupted her rambling. "Out with it."

"Spencer, would you... would you help me clean out my father's house?"

"Yeah, sure."

Grace was surprised by his answer. She had expected him to say no.

"Really? Are you sure?"

He kissed her cheek. "Yes, I'm sure. Anything for you, Grace."

* * *

When Grace was released from the hospital the next morning, her and Reid got in a rented Jetta and set out on the two hour drive to Grace's childhood home. To avoid any questions about her father, Grace talked the entire drive, pointing out places along the way such as the exit that would take them to her cabin, the site of her first car accident, friend's houses and things like that.

The closer they got to her father's house, the more nervous she became. By the time they pulled into the driveway, she was shaking uncontrollably. Reid put the car in park then put a hand on Grace's leg.

"It's alright." he assured her. "We can do this."

"Thank you, Spencer."

She opened the door of the car then went up the steps to the front door of the house. She took a deep breathe then unlocked the door with the key in her purse. She entered the house and stood in the foyer for a moment, taking it all in.

"Where do you want to start?" Reid asked her.

"My room, I guess." she replied.

Grace went down the hallway to her old bedroom while Reid went back to the car to get some of the boxes they'd picked up on the way. When he came back to the house, he found Grace sitting on her old bed, staring at the wall.

He looked around the room. There were clothes everywhere, a record player and a stack of records almost as tall as Grace was. Her walls were plastered with poster of Kurt Cobain and Bob Marley. The walls were lined with art as well, some of it was Grace's work, he recognized her style from the paintings in her apartment, there were also prints of artists such as Warhol, Pollock and Margritte, others were originals he couldn't recognize. Her bookcase was full and more books were piled on top of it and beside it. Her desk was covered in stacks of paper and a large collection of make-up, perfume and lotions.

"You're profiling me, aren't you?" Grace asked.

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's alright, go ahead, I want to hear this."

"Well," Reid said. "I'm not exactly profiling you, but you when you were a teenager. See, the majority of adolescents' profiles would read like a psychopath's. That's why they can't be diagnosed with a serious mental illness until they're eighteen."

Grace nodded.

"Well, the general mess shows that you had no control over your life. The excessive art, the music and the books were an escape from something, probably the people around you since none of it matches the interests typical of the location. So, typical teenage rebellion.

"Your paintings go deeper than that though, they each have their own individual meaning. There's more of them on the walls than there are posters or paintings by anyone else, so that shows that you had more confidence in your own ideas than those of others. The posters are of idols, not attractive male celebrities. So, you were quite mature.

"The amount of books is self-explanatory, but the variety of titles indicates confusion. For example, you have _The Communist Manifesto_ next to _The Fountainhead_.

"The Bible next to the Buddha statue tells me that you were searching for the right religion, probably because you wanted to feel accepted somewhere because you weren't accepted at school or home. The fact that you identify yourself as an Atheist today proves that you were unsuccessful in your quest to find religion."

"You hit the nail on the head, Doc." Grace laughed. "So what's your conclusion."

Reid sighed. "You thought that there was something wrong with you and spent most of your free time trying to figure out what that was, but in reality, there wasn't really anything wrong, you were just different from most people you knew and they couldn't accept you."

Grace hugged him. "It was so lonely."

He rubbed her back. "I know."

Grace stopped herself from crying. "Alright, we've got work to do."

They started to sort through the items in the house, boxing up anything Grace planned to keep or donate and throwing everything else in garbage bags. They discovered that Grace's sister, Macy had cleaned out her bedroom and the basement after the funeral, making their job a whole lot easier. Their next mission was the kitchen, where they threw out three year old, mold covered food.

"What's this?" Reid asked, looking at a collage of newspaper clippings on the refrigerator.

"Stuff about... Dad." Grace answered hesitantly.

Reid looked closer at the articles. He finally discovered why Grace was so shaken up about her father's death. He had died in a mining accident, rescuing seven trapped miners. They all survived except him.

"Grace, I'm so sorry." he said.

"You know, he had two engineering degrees, he never should have worked there." she said. "When he got married though, the salary for engineers wasn't what it is today. He took the job at the mine to support my mother's expensive tastes and tried to start up his own business. The day before he died, I asked him why he didn't just go back to engineering, at least it wouldn't be so much physical stress for him. He told me his degrees were too old, no one wanted a 50-year old engineer, they wanted the kids fresh out of university. Then he was gone."

Reid put an arm around her. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. It was probably the best way he could die. I always thought he would drink himself to death, but he died a hero instead. And I inherited a couple million, paid the rest of mine and Macy's schooling without student loans and I got clean like he wanted."

Reid kissed the top of her head.

She sighed. "Let's finish this and go home."

* * *

At the end of the day, the house was completely empty. They pulled out of the driveway behind two U-Haul trucks, one going to the local Salvation Army with a load of furniture and clothing, the other headed to Grace's storage unit in Virginia with all the personal possessions and her father's motorcycle. Grace slept in the passenger seat on the way to the airport.

They arrived with twenty minutes to spare before their flight. Grace didn't say a word the entire flight, nor did she speak on their way back to her apartment. Reid wanted her to talk to him, but figured trying to force her to speak would only make it worse.

As they entered the garage, they could hear voices above them in the apartment. They looked at eachother and got their guns out. Reid went first up the stairs and Grace followed him. Reid tried the door, which was unlocked. He opened it and slowly and carefully entered the apartment. Grace heard two familiar voices screamed and Reid's gun falling to the floor. She ran inside to see what had happened.

"Jesus Christ, Reid!" Morgan yelled.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" he yelled back.

"We wanted to surprise Grace." Garcia said innocently.

"How did you get in?" Grace asked.

"Morgan showed the Joneses his badge and they let us in."

Grace hugged her friends and laughed.

Reid sighed in relief, glad that Grace's silence was finally broken.

They spent the rest of the night laughing with their friends as if the last few days had never happened. When Garcia and Morgan disappeared for the night, Reid was thankful that Grace's smile didn't.

"I'm sorry for the silent treatment." Grace said.

"It's alright, you've had a rough few days."

"I wasn't mad at you, if that's what you were thinking. I just... I don't know, I feel like we're going kind of fast. I mean, it's not really normal for you to know my while life story by now, or for you to spend every night with me or for you to kill my ex, right?"

"I think you and I both know, neither of us really do 'normal'."

Grace smiled. "I guess so."

"None of it feels wrong to you, does it?" Reid asked. "Cuz if it does, just tell me, we can slow down if you want to."

Grace shook her head. "I like this, actually. It's about the only thing that's felt right in a long time. What about you though?"

"I've never really done this before, Grace, but I think it feels right. As long as you're happy, I'm happy."

Grace wrapped her arms around him. "You're so sweet." she said.

Reid grinned. "What are you doing tomorrow night?"

"Same thing I do every night," Grace replied. "Try to take over the world!" She erupted with a fit of laughter.

"Well, do you want to take a break from that, just for one night?" Reid asked, completely missing the reference.

"Well, if Hotch doesn't destroy us tomorrow, I might be able to make some room in my schedule."

"He's not going to destroy us."

"Well, maybe not you, but he's going to kill me." Grace said. "What's his problem anyway? Why's he such a hard-ass?"

"Grace, he lost his wife recently. George Foyet, the Boston Reaper, you probably heard of him, he went after Hotch after he refused to make a deal. He killed Hailey and would've got their son, Jack if Hotch hadn't stopped him."

Grace was shocked. She felt sick with guilt.

"Oh my God, I feel like such a bitch."

"It's alright, you didn't know." Reid said. "You should get to bed though, you must be exhausted. Do you want me to stay?"

"Do you want to stay?"

"Yeah."

"Then why did you even ask?" Grace laughed. "I told you, you're welcome anytime."

He kissed her passionately and lead her to the bedroom.

"So, what did you have planned for tomorrow?" Grace asked.

"It's a surprise." Reid answered, tearing off Grace's shirt and trying to unbutton her jeans.

"Spencer, what are you doing?" she asked nervously. "Spencer, no, stop."

He took his hands off of her immediately.

"I'm sorry." he said.

"It's OK, Spence. I'm sorry, I'm just.. not ready. It's too soon. I'm.. I'm a virgin, Spencer."

He looked at her, bewildered. "Really? But, you're so beautiful, and Peterson..."

Grace shook her head. "Never. After him, I developed a fear of anything sexual. I tried to get over it, but I would just end up freaking out."

Reid kissed her. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright, Spencer." Grace said.

"We can wait as long as you want." he said.

"Thank you, Spencer." she said, kissing his cheek. "Can I get some sleep now?"

He helped her out of her clothes and into her pyjamas. He took off his shirt and pants and got in bed with her. He kissed her stab wounds and let her fall asleep with her head on his chest. All night he dreamed about what Hotch would tell them in the morning.

* * *

**A/N: My apologies for these last two extremely un-eventful chapters. I hope you enjoyed getting to meet some of Grace's friends and family and learning a bit more about her past though. Chapter 12 is going to be their little talk with Hotch and I'm kind of super pumped for it.**

**I may be taking a break soon as I have a whole bunch of essays to write and I start back at work on the 2nd and school on the 11th, plus I've got some volunteering to do on the 8th. Don't worry though, I am not going to abandon this story! I will be writing whenever I get a spare minute.**

**Anyway, don't forget to review! Goodnight my lovely readers.**


	12. Chapter 12

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Grace._

* * *

Reid squeezed Grace's hand as they entered the BAU. The pair walked in silence straight to Hotch's office, not even greeting any of their co-workers. Grace swallowed the lump in her throat as the opened the door.

"Sit down." Hotch ordered.

The two young agents did as they were told.

"It's come to my attention that the two of you have become involved." Hotch said.

They just nodded, their hands still clasped together.

"I have no objections." he said, the atmosphere in the room instantly becoming less intense. "However, I expect you both to act professionally while you're here or working a case. If you don't want the team to have to lie to Strauss, don't give them a reason to."

Grace and Reid both sighed in relief.

"Thanks, Hotch." Reid said. "I promise, you've got nothing to worry about."

"Yeah." Grace agreed.

"Alright, Reid we have a case in New Mexico, get your stuff ready, we leave in half an hour." Hotch said. "Ash, you're sitting this one out."

"What? Why?" she demanded.

"If anything happens to make your stitches come out, you could bleed to death. Plus you can't even lift a gun with your shoulder like that. I'm sure Reid will agree that it's much safe for you to stay here."

Reid nodded.

"You'll be staying here to help Garcia." Hotch said.

Grace was excited to spend some quality time with Garcia, but she wasn't sure she could bare to be away from Reid again.

Reid put a hand on her injured shoulder. "It'll be alright." he said, as if he had read her mind.

Grace could feel Hotch looking disapprovingly at them so she broke away.

"Uh.. Hotch?" she said nervously. "Could I have a word with you in private before you leave?"

"Sure."

Grace turned back to Reid. "I'll just be a minute." she said.

He nodded and left the office.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Hotch asked.

Grace sighed. "I want to apologize to you," she said. "For being such a bitch. I uh.. I have quite the authority complex and I just thought you were a jerk, but uh... Reid told me what uh... what happened. I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry and I'm going to be working harder at doing what you tell me to."

"Thank you, Grace." Hotch said. "I should apologize to you too. I guess I just forget that you aren't as used to the job as the rest of the team." He paused. "I'd like to congratulate you and Reid as well. It's about time he found someone. I just hope you both know the stress this job can put on a relationship."

* * *

Reid found Grace sitting in Garcia's office, trying to figure out the whole computer system. She didn't notice him enter the room. He grinned as she cursed at the computer.

"Hey beautiful." he said, touching her back.

She jumped out of her chair.

"Spencer!" she gasped. "Don't scare me like that."

He grabbed her waist and pulled her close to him. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to say goodbye, we're leaving in a few minutes."

Grace grasped his sweater and pressed her face into his chest. "No." she said stubbornly.

"Grace, please don't make this harder than it has to be."

She look up at him with watery eyes. "I'm sorry, Spencer."

He kissed her forehead. "It's OK. I won't be gone long. I'll call you every night, I promise." He cupped her face in his hand and stroked her cheek with his thumb. "Here," he said, letting go of her and taking off his sweater. "Will this help?"

Grace nodded and he helped her put it on.

They held eachother for a moment until they heard the rest of the team leaving.

"I've gotta go, Grace."

"Be careful, Spencer." she said. "If you don't come home in one piece, I'll kill you."

Reid laughed. "Alright. Oh, and don't worry about the computer thing. I've done this before, you just sit there and let Garcia work her magic."

Grace smiled. "Alright. Goodbye."

He kissed her on the lips, awkwardly slipping her a bit of tongue.

"Goodbye, Grace." he said.

She watched him leave, wishing desperately that she could go with him.

* * *

"So, it's about time you fill me in." Garcia said.

"On what?" Grace laughed.

"You and Boy Wonder. What's going on?"

Grace sighed. "We're not supposed to tell you anything. That way when Strauss comes down on us, you won't have to lie to her."

"There's something to lie about?"

"Dammit! Why do I always sabotage myself?" Grace sighed, "We're um... kind of official now."

"Grace! Why didn't you tell me sooner? How did it happen? Who asked who?"

Grace sighed again. "Pen, there's something I need to tell you."

"What is it, Grace?"

"You remember the day after my birthday? When I went home early and Spencer came to my house?"

Garcia nodded.

"When he found me, I was about to kill myself."

"Oh my God, Grace, why?"

"I don't even know. It seems so stupid now. I just felt like coming here was a huge mistake, but I had nothing to go home for either. Spencer stopped me. I already told you he kissed me, but I told him I just wanted to be friends."

Garcia nodded attentively.

"Well, he didn't really stick to the 'just friends' thing. He sent me flowers, he spent every night with me. It was great. I started to consider being more than friends. Then when we were looking for my ex, Spencer saw what I meant when I said I didn't want to get hurt again."

Garcia looked at Grace's shoulder and stomach.

"Yeah, I know it's ridiculous to think Spencer would ever do something like this, but abuse is all I've ever known. Anyway, we were in my hotel room, right before Josh got me when I told Spencer that I was ready, I wanted to be with him."

"Awwww... that's adorable."

* * *

Morgan laughed. "Hey, check this out." he said to the rest of the team, pointing to the laptop in front of him.

JJ, Prentiss and Reid all looked at the laptop screen. They saw Grace sitting in Garcia's office, spinning around in a chair, singing.

Morgan, JJ and Prentiss all laughed.

"How does she not know the webcam's on?" Morgan asked.

"Hey, Spence," JJ said. "Why is Ash wearing your sweater?"

Reid closed the laptop and went back to his seat.

"Jeez, someone's in a bad mood." Prentiss laughed.

"Yeah, what's up, Spencer?" JJ asked.

"Leave him alone," Morgan said. "He's just upset because he has to spend a couple days away from his girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" Prentiss said. "You mean, you're dating Ash?"

"Spence, why didn't you tell us?" JJ asked him.

"We're supposed to act professionally at work. The less you guys know, the less you'll have to lie when Strauss finds out." he said.

"Reid, this team is like a family, we tell eachother everything." JJ said.

"Sorry," he said. "These last few days have been hard and Grace doesn't really feel accepted by you guys anyway."

"I guess we have been kind of cold toward her." JJ said.

Reid sighed. "She tried to kill herself last week."

The rest of the team looked surprised. Hotch and Rossi over-heard and decided to join the conversation.

"Reid, you should have told us that she's mentally unstable." Hotch said sternly.

"She hasn't talked about it since though." he said. "Hotch, if I saw _anything_ that made me think she was mentally unstable, I would let you know. I'm not careless."

"Love makes people do stupid things." Rossi said.

"And how many times have you been married?" Morgan laughed. He turned his attention back to Reid. "So, is it love, kid?"

"Shouldn't we be reviewing the case?"

They turned on the laptop again and got Garcia and Grace on the webcam so they could begin reviewing the case.

Four children, ages 3, 5, 8 and 12 had been abducted from four separate homes in two consecutive nights, all homes were within a 20-minute drive from eachother. In two days, a finger from each of the children was found in the mail.

"What kind of incomes do the parents of the abducted kids have?" Grace asked. "Is this some kind of ransom thing? I thought that only happened on TV, sending fingers for ransom."

"It's actually more common than you would think" Reid said. He was about to recite some statistic when JJ interrupted him.

"That would make sense if they were all sent to their families, but they're all sent to the same address."

"Give me the address." Garcia said.

"828 Somerset Drive." JJ said.

Garcia typed up a storm and found some information on the address. "Alright," she said. "Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, spacious kitchen, large backyard. One-hundred-eighty-five-thousand dollars."

"It's on the market?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah, and it has been for over a year." Garcia said. "It was a foreclosure."

"Nice economy, Uncle Sam." Grace mumbled.

"Who was the owner before the foreclosure, Garcia?" Hotch asked.

"Tracy Setner." she replied.

"What can you tell me about her?"

"Well, she was divorced, four kids, was a secretary at law firm, but this is where it gets weird, after the foreclosure, there's nothing on Tracy Setner. It's like she just disappeared."

"Did she die?"

"No death certificate."

"Garcia, you'll need to dig deeper. Call us when you find anything."

* * *

"Hey, Hotch." Garcia said. "So, get this, Tracy Setner lost her job at the law firm and started drinking. She filed for divorce and got custody of her children, but when she wouldn't stop drinking and lost the house, CPS took the kids away, each of them got sent to a different foster home. She changed her name to Selma Smythe and lives on the other side of town."

"Thanks Garcia, I'll have Morgan and Rossi go talk to her."

As soon as Garcia ended the call, Grace's cell phone began to ring. It was Reid.

"Hey, how's it goin'?" Grace greeted him.

"Well, we're kind of stuck on the profile. There's not much to work with." he said.

"Spencer...?"

"Yeah?"

"Are those kids going to be OK?" Grace asked.

"Statistically-"

"Spencer, I don't give a damn about statistics! These kids are being held hostage and having their digits cut off. Are they going to survive?"

"If we find them soon enough, they still have a chance." he said. "Your first case with kids is always hard."

"Yeah. What kind of sick fucker would do this?"

"That's what we're trying to find out, Grace." Reid said. "I think you should go home and get some rest."

"I won't get any rest. I don't think I can sleep without you beside me."

"Can you try? You're not going to heal as fast if you don't get enough sleep."

"Why should I rest when you guys are all working?"

Reid sighed in frustration. "Please don't be stubborn, Grace."

"Sorry, I just miss you."

"I miss you too. Please get some sleep."

"Alright, be careful out there, Spencer."

"I will." he said. "Goodnight, Grace."

"Goodnight."

* * *

When Grace returned home, she found another bouquet of roses sitting on the step in front of her door. She checked the tag.

_If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there? - Richard Bach_

Grace fell asleep, wrapped in Reid's sweater. It was almost as if he was there with her.

* * *

When Grace entered the BAU the next morning, she found another bouquet on her desk. The tag read:

_Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires. - Francois de la Rochefoucauld_

"Wow, Boy Genius really does love you, doesn't he?" Garcia laughed when she saw the flowers in Grace's hand.

Grace blushed. "I wouldn't say he _loves_ me. It's a bit early for that."

"Nonsense." Garcia laughed. "He's sent you what, like a hundred roses?"

"Forty-nine." Grace corrected her. "So, have they gotten anywhere since last night?"

Garcia lead her friend into her office. "They went to talk to Selma Smythe and she says she changed her name because she was afraid of her ex-husband, Richard Setner. He was charged with assaulting her three years ago."

"So, are they going to talk to him?" Grace asked.

"Well, I can't find an address for him at the moment, but I'm going to keep digging. They want you to call so they can make a profile though."

"Alright, I'm on it." Grace said, rolling across the room in her chair.

She turned on one of the computer screens and could see the entire team.

"Good morning comrades!" she greeted them.

"Garcia's had quite the impact on you, hasn't she?" Morgan laughed.

"Yeah," Grace shrugged. "Or it could be the four cups of coffee and half a bag of sugar I had this morning."

She had picked up some coffee for Reid on her way home the night before, but when she had trouble waking that morning, she decided to have a cup, and then another, and another, and another.

"So, what do you guys have so far?" she asked eagerly.

"Well, the unsub has to be very slim to have abducted those kids. He came in through the wondows." Morgan said.

Grace nodded.

"He also has a lot of rage." Reid added. "He's not cutting the fingers off the children, he's actually ripping them off."

Grace thought she was going to be sick.

"How do we know it's a he?" she asked.

"Men abduct children, women abduct newborns." Reid said. "And a woman isn't likely to rip fingers off of a child."

"So, he hates kids." Grace said. "What makes a person hate kids so much that they would rip their fingers off?"

"Could be someone who was falsely accused of molesting or abusing a child." Prentiss speculated.

"So he's abusing them out of revenge?" Grace thought out loud. "That doesn't make sense. Wouldn't he want to try to maintain his innocence?"

The team was silent for a moment. It looked like maybe they were stumped until Morgan said, "Wait, how many kids did the Setners have?"

"Four." Grace answered.

"So could he be trying to replace the family he lost?" Prentiss said.

"I think we need to be looking at why the unsub is tearing these kids apart." Reid said.

Then it hit Grace like a ton of bricks. "Reid! You're a genius!" she exclaimed.

Morgan laughed. "We knew that already, sweetheart."

"No, I mean. _Tearing them apart_?" she cried. "He's cutting off their fingers, _tearing them apart_ and mailing them to the house he lived in with his ex wife because he wants to show her how she's torn their family apart!"

"I think Ash just out-smarted you, Reid." Morgan laughed.

Grace laughed too. "Maybe I should drink coffee more often."

"We're going to give the profile now and have someone look into Richard Setner." Prentiss said.

"Alright, peace!" Grace said, shutting off the webcam.

* * *

Grace's cell rang a few hours later.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hey, Grace." Reid said.

Her heart skipped a beat.

"Thanks for the flowers." she said.

"You're welcome."

She didn't like the tone of his voice. Something was definitely wrong.

"Grace?" he said.

"Yeah?" she said nervously.

_Oh dear god, please tell me this is not happening. He is not going to tell me what I think he's going to tell me._

"We talked to Setner, it's definitely not him."

She sighed in relief.

"Why do you sound relieved?" he questioned.

"Oh, I'm not... about that anyway." Grace replied. "So, you're back to square one?"

Reid sighed. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Alright, Garcia and I are going to do some snooping. Oh yeah, don't forget, you owe me a date."

Reid laughed. "Don't worry, I haven't forgotten."

* * *

"Oh my God, look at this." Garcia gasped.

Grace turned to look at her computer screen.

"Oh shit..." she said. "Call the team. How did we miss this?"

Garcia dialed Morgan's number.

"Hey, Baby Girl." he greeted her.

"Selma Smythe or Tracy Setner, whatever her name is, she has Multiple Personality Disorder!"

"What?"

"Selma Smythe is her alternate personality." Garcia informed him.

"It's not Richard Setner sending the fingers to Tracy Setner," Grace said. "Selma is sending the fingers to Tracy to tell her that _she_ tore their family apart."

* * *

It was nearly midnight when the rest of the team got back to Quantico. Grace had waited around for them after she found out they had caught Tracy Setner and rescued all the kids she had abducted. She had done a stack of Reid's paperwork, emptied her email inbox, played solitaire and made the whole team coffee while she waited for them.

Reid ran to Grace's desk and wrapped his arms around her.

"Spencer!" she said in surprise. "Spencer, everyone's watching."

"It's OK," he said, kissing the top of her head. "They know."

Grace blushed, embarrassed that everyone's eyes were on them. The embarrassment couldn't overpower how much she had missed Reid though. She looked up at him then kissed him hard on the lips.

Her tongue entered his mouth and he felt dizzy. When his head cleared, he took control of the kiss, freeing a small moan from behind Grace's lips.

"Way to go, Pretty Boy!" Morgan laughed.

Grace flipped him off and they continued to kiss.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review.**

**I apologize for the poor quality of these last few chapters. I'm super stressed and sick and I just kind of needed filler until the next big part I have planned. I know that's no excuse, but it's the best I can do.**

**Oh, I made the most awesome discovery and decision yesterday and I wish I could tell you all, but it would ruin the story. Gah! Frustration!**


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Grace._

* * *

"Spencer," Grace giggled. "Where are you taking me?"

"For the 56th time, Grace, it's a surprise!" he said, getting a bit annoyed. "Watch out for that root!"

Grace stumbled, tripping on the root of a tree. "How am I supposed to watch out? You have me blindfolded!"

"You know, when you lose one of your senses, the others become stronger." he said.

"I knew that." Grace said rather angrily. It was hot out and she'd been walking for over an hour blindfolded with Reid's purple scarf.

"What are your other senses telling you?"

"I smell pine trees and... I think that's mud, flowers and grass, I'll just call it 'spring'. Maybe I could bottle that smell and make millions off of it..." she mused.

Reid smiled and shook his head, but Grace didn't see it. He was glad they finally had a day off work so he could give her that surprise date he'd promised. He was even happier that Grace's mood was finally improving. Her wounds and broken nose were healing up nicely and she was ceasing to doubt herself at work. Since he'd returned from New Mexico, her smile had never left her face.

Even stumbling along the dirt path, he thought she looked beautiful. The way the sun hit her hair created a glow around her face. The sunlight hadn't darkened her pale white skin at all, but it had brought out her freckles, which Reid thought were adorable.

"I heard water." Grace stated. "Are we near a river?"

"I can't tell you, it's a surprise." Reid said. "What else are your senses telling you?"

"What other senses are left?" Grace wondered out load. "Um... taste. OK, I can taste that whole container of orange TicTacs I ate on the way here."

She felt Reid's lips on hers and his tongue enter her mouth.

"Eww, coffee grinds." she teased. "Alright, now my sixth sense is telling me you look like an injured puppy right now. I'm sorry, Spence. I love your coffee breath." She paused. "What's left now? Touch? Well, I feel your hand. It's sweaty. Are you nervous?"

"Yes." Reid replied. "You make me very nervous."

"Why? I don't mean to."

"Beautiful women make me nervous." he said. "And talking about anything other than facts and statistics."

"You don't need to be nervous around me, Spence. Geez, you practically live with me."

Reid smiled. "We're here." he said, removing his scarf from over Grace's eyes.

Grace looked around. She was standing in a clearing, surrounded by trees with a river running through it.

"Oh, Spencer, this place is beautiful!" she exclaimed.

He smiled. "This is where I come when I need time to myself."

He took her hand and lead her to a tree. Reid took off his coat and put it on the ground for Grace to sit on.

"Thank you." she said, sitting down.

Reid sat down beside her. "Come here, you've got something in you hair."

Grace leaned forward and closed her eyes. She felt Reid's fingers in her hair, just above her left ear. When she opened her eyes, she saw that he was holding a rose in his hand. He handed it to her and she blushed.

"It's about time I got one of these from you in person." she giggled. "You know, when Morgan told me you were magic, I didn't think that this is what he meant."

Reid kissed her.

"OK, I guess you're that kind of magic too."

Reid blushed.

"You're so cute." Grace said. "You didn't just make me walk for an hour so you could do a magic trick though, right?"

"Oh," Reid said, remembering what he'd brought her here for. He pulled a book out of his brown leather messenger bag. "I wanted to read you some poems."

"Awww... that's so sweet." Grace said. "Well, as long as it's not the Victorians. God, I hated the victorians."

"No. Wh-Why would you hate the Victorians?"

"They were so lame! They were all talk, no action."

"Well, you have a point, but it's good poetry."

"And Mel Gibson is a good actor, but he's a racist crazy man!" Grace said. "For my final English exam in high school, instead of answering all te questions, I wrote a ten page essay on why the Romantics were so much better than the Victorians. I got a 96."

"Well, I'm glad you like the Romantics because that's what I brought." Reid said.

"Yay!" Grace exclaimed. "Can we start with Byron?"

Grace got onto his lap and he began to read her the poems of Lord Byron. He really didn't need the book, he'd memorized them long ago, but he thought that this might be more romantic.

Eventually they put the book away and were talking about anything that came to mind.

"So what was it like growing up in Vegas?" Grace asked.

"Not as glamourous as I know you think it would be." Reid replied. "It's not all casinos, you know."

"So you had a pretty normal childhood?"

He shook his head. "No, I don't think that's really possibly when you have an IQ of 187, you graduate high school when you're twelve and your father walks out on you." he said, tearing up.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry, Spence." she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I know what it's like to have a parent abandon you. He must be an idiot. He has no idea what he's missing." She stroked his hair. "Shhh... It's alright. We don't need them."

"You father died, he didn't abandon you."

"No, but my mother disowned me when I was thirteen." Grace said, fighting back tears. "She didn't believe me when I told her I was being abused. She called me a whore and told me to get out."

Reid wiped a tear from her eye. He felt like a tool. She hadn't cried in days and now she was and it was all his fault.

"I'm sorry, Grace." he said, kissing her forehead.

"It's alright." she said, drying her eyes. "It only made me stronger." She kissed Reid's lips.

They watched the sun set together and when the stars came out, Reid decided to impress her by naming all the constellations they could see.

"... and your birthday's the 26th so that makes you a Taurus, so there's your constellation." he said, pointing to the sky with his free hand, his other hand was wrapped around Grace who had her head on his chest.

She hugged him and kissed him on the lips. "You're like my own living encyclopedia."

She yawned and stretched her arms.

"Time to go home?" Reid suggested.

"No." Grace whined.

"Come on." Reid said, helping her up.

"Spencer, it's dark, how're we going to find the car? It's scary out here."

"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe." he assured her, patting his gun.

He didn't want to admit it, but he kind of enjoyed how she held onto him a little bit tighter everytime she heard a noise in the forest on the way back to his car. He finally understood what Morgan meant when he talked about watching scary movies with girls.

They reached the old, beat-up blue VW and Reid helped Grace get in and closed her door for her. He got in and started the car.

As they got on the highway, Reid looked at her, half-asleep in the passenger seat, holding the rose he'd given her earlier.

"Grace?"

"Yeah?"

"I uh... nevermind."

"OK." she said, falling asleep.

_I love you, Grace. _he thought.

* * *

**A/N: Awwwww, so much fluff.**

**Hope you all enjoyed it, I thought Grace and Reid needed a day without crazy seriousness. **

**Don't forget to review. **

**Happy New Year!**


	14. Chapter 14

_Disclaimer:" I own nothing except Grace._

* * *

A loud crashing sound jolted Reid from his sleep. He looked around him, Grace wasn't in the bed.

"Grace?" he called. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." she said from down the hall. "Could you give me a hand here?"

Reid got out of bed and sauntered down the hall to the room Grace usually kept closed. He saw her standing in the room, trying to balance a tower of boxes. He straightened the boxes then kissed her on the head.

"Why am I so short?" Grace pouted.

"Genetics." Reid said.

Grace punched him playfully in the shoulder. "Shut it, smartass!"

He grabbed her waist and began to tickle her.

"Spencer!" she cried, grabbing the stack of boxes, almost knocking it over again.

He showed her no mercy.

"Spencer, stop! We have to get this cleaned up before Charlie and Dan get here!"

He released her and grinned. "Fine, but I win by forfit."

Grace rolled her eyes. "Fine, oh yeah, I have something for you. Consider it your trophy."

She bounded down the hall to her bedroom. She opened the drawer of her nightstand and took out a little blue box. She returned to Reid and gave it to him. He opened the box and found a key inside it. Upon closer inspection he saw that the key was on a chain. He took it out of the box and put it around his neck.

"Thank you, Grace." he said, kissing her cheek.

She smiled. "You're welcome. Now, can you help me get this room ready?"

"Can I get dressed first?"

"No." Grace said, kissing his naked chest. "I like you better like this."

He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her. "You're such a liar."

"No I'm not. You're gorgeous."

He laughed. "Yeah, right."

"Yeah, I am right." she kissed him. "Now go get dressed. They're going to be here soon."

When Reid finished in the shower, he found Grace stacking canvases in the guest room. On the stereo, she had her favourite CD playing, Nirvana's _In Utero_. The room looked mostly clean. All the canvases and easel were out of the way, stashed in the closet and in the corner. The guitars, keyboard and recording equipment were arranged neatly in another corner by the stereo and the couch had been pulled out into a bed with fresh sheets and pillows on it.

They heard a vehicle pull into the driveway. Grace squealed in excitement and ran out the door, down the stairs and out the garage. She ran to the rented green Toyota and attacked her cousin with a hug.

"Charlie!" she exclaimed.

Charlotte laughed. "Grace, calm down."

Grace opened the back door of the car and got her cousin's daughter out of her carseat.

"Vi!"

"Aunt Gracie!" the little girl said, hugging her.

Grace was glad that Reid was a profiler so she wouldn't have to explain to him why her cousin's daughter called her "Auntie". She got tired of telling people that she and her cousin, despite their ten year age difference had always been close, more like sisters than cousins.

"Oh, I missed you, sweetheart." Grace said to the four-year-old. "Come on, there's someone you guys have to meet."

She lead her cousin and her family into the garage and up to the apartment. Reid was sitting at the table, drinking his coffee when they came through the door.

"Guys, this is my boyfriend, Dr. Spencer Reid." Grace said. "Spencer, this is Dan, Charlotte and Violet."

"Nice to meet you." Reid said, shaking Dan and Charlotte's hands.

* * *

It was eleven o'clock that night and Grace, Reid, Charlotte and Dan were sitting around the table, having a few beers and relaxing. They had all went to DC for the day. Grace and Charlotte spent their time catching up and Dan had plenty of questions for Reid about his job with the FBI.

"So, how is it that my little cousin here gets a doctor for a boyfriend?" Charlotte asked Reid, finishing off her third beer.

"Well, um... she's... she's extremely beautiful." he managed to say. "And she's smart and just... she's just amazing."

Grace blushed. "You're drunk."

"No, I'm not," Reid defended himself. "I'm still on my first beer."

Dan laughed. "I don't see how anyone could get drunk on this American beer."

Charlotte grinned deviously. "I think it's time I told you some embarrassing stories about Grace, Dr. Reid."

"Oh, Charlie, no!" Grace protested.

Charlotte gave her a stern look. "Shut it, Grace! I've been waiting for this moment all my life, don't ruin it for me!"

Just then, Violet came out of the guest room in her pyjamas, rubbing her eyes.

"Vi, you have no idea how happy I am to see you right now." Grace said in relief.

Violet ran over to her and jumped up onto her lap.

"What do you want, sweetie?" Grace asked her.

Violet shrugged. "I wanted to hang out with you guys. Sleep's not fun."

"Vi, you need your sleep if you want to grow." Grace said. "How 'bout I read you a story, then you go back to bed?"

"OK."

Grace took her to the bookshelf in the living room and told her to pick something out. Violet hauled a giant psychology text book off the shelf.

Grace laughed. "Psychology text books aren't bedtime stories, Vi. Pick another one."

"Do you have any about princesses, Aunt Gracie?" Violet asked.

Grace skimmed the titles on her shelf. Drug addicts, serial killers, text books, rockstars, classics, French romance novels, no princesses.

"I don't have any books about princesses, Vi, but I can tell you a story about one."

Grace picked Violet up and carried her to the balcony. They sat down under the stars and Grace began to tell her a story.

* * *

In the kitchen, Charlotte yawned. "Well, that would be the jet lag catching up with me. I'm going to bed. Dan?"

"Yeah, I'm getting kinda tired too." Dan said.

"Well, goodnight Dr. Reid." Charlotte said. "Please make sure she lets my daughter sleep. She'll have her up all night, talking about unicorns if you let her."

"Alright." Reid said. "Uh.. goodnight."

He made his way to Grace's bedroom and found her on the balcony, telling Violet her story. For a moment he imagined her sitting there with their own daughter and smiled, but he stopped himself, it was too early to be thinking about that, ans besides, she would come to her senses soon and dump him.

"So, once upon a time, there was a princess," Grace said. "But she didn't know she was a princess."

"Did she have a unicorn?" the little girl asked.

"No, silly, she didn't know she was a princess." Grace teased. "Anyway, the princess who didn't know she was a princess, lots of people liked to hurt her. Everyone she saw would hurt her."

"Why did they hurt her?" Violet asked.

"Because they didn't know that she was a princess." Grace answered her. "So, the princess had another problem. Whenever she looked in the mirror, she didn't see a princess, she saw an ugly troll. So, to get rid of the troll, she drank lots and lots of poison. The poison didn't help though, it only made the troll uglier.

"One day, the princess ran out of poison. When she looked in the mirror, she didn't see a big, ugly troll, she saw a brave and fearless knight. So, the princess decided to go to knight school. Knight school was hard work, but she finished as the best knight in her class. The princess joined a whole team of knights and they became her best friends.

"One day, the team of knights travelled far away to go fight a monster. The monster captured the princess and locked her away in his dungeon where he tortured her. The princess screamed for help and tried to fight him off with her kick-butt knight skills, but the monster was too big.

"She had almost given up all hope when she heard someone call her name. It was one of the knights from her team, but he wasn't just a knight."

"What was his name, Aunt Gracie?" Violet asked.

"Um... his name was Spencer." Grace said, biting her lip. "So," she said, continuing the story. "The knight, Spencer, he was more than just a knight, he was the smartest knight on earth, and he was a magician _and_ a handsome prince. He found the princess locked inside the dungeon and he slayed the moster and saved her life. He kissed the princess and all of a sudden, she realized that she wasn't a troll or a knight, she was a princess afterall."

Reid sat down in the chair beside Grace. "Good story." he said.

"Aunt Gracie," Violet said. "You forgot part of the story!"

"What part did I forget, sweetie?"

"The part where they live happily ever after!"

Grace laughed. "Why don't you answer that one, Spencer?"

Violet jumped out of Grace's lap and climbed onto Reid's. A look of surprise came across his face. Kids were usually terrified of him, the BAU even had a name for this phenomenon, they called it the "Reid Effect".

Grace laughed at the expression on Reid's face, but she actually thought he looked adorable holding Violet in his lap.

"Did they live happily ever after?" Violet asked him.

"Well, no." Reid said.

The upset look on Violet's face made him kick himself mentally.

"Well," he said, trying to right his wrong. "We don't know if they lived happily ever after because their story's not over yet."

"So what happened next?" Violet asked.

Grace laughed. "Another time, Violet, it's time for you to go to bed."

She picked her up and carried her down the hall. She was about to open the door to the guest room to put Violet in bed when she heard panting and moaning on the other side.

_Oh no, Charlie!_ She thought.

"Hey, Vi, do you want to sleep with Aunt Gracie and Uncle Spencer tonight?"

The little girl nodded and Grace put her in her bed. Reid gave Grace a quizzical look. Grace made a gesture to tell him what her cousin was doing in the guest room. Reid nodded and Grace crawled into bed between him and Violet.

"So, you heard the whole story?" Grace whispered when Violet was finally asleep.

"Yeah." Reid replied, kissing the nape of her neck and wrapping his arm tighter around her waist. "You definitely fit the princess profile, but you got me all wrong."

"No way, you're so brave. You saved my life, you can't deny that." she said. "Thank you."

He sighed. "Grace, you don't need to keep thanking me, that's not why I did it. I wasn't trying to play the hero."

"Then what were you doing?" Grace asked.

"I was making sure no one hurt you, like I promised."

"Like a hero."

"No, like an over-protective boyfriend trying to make sure he never loses the most amazing girl he's ever known."

"Fine," Grace gave in. "But when I tell the story, I'm just saying you're my hero, it's way easier than saying all that."

* * *

When Grace awoke in the morning, she could hear Charlotte frying bacon in the kitchen and Violet singing some song she had made up. Then she clued into what had really woken her, her cell phone was ringing.

"Hello?" Reid answered it before Grace had a chance to.

"Spencer?" JJ said. "I thought I dialled Grace."

"You did." he verified for her. "Is it important, JJ? She has family visiting."

JJ sighed. "I'm afraid it is, Spence. We're leaving for Minneapolis in an hour and a half."

"Alright. Bye."

Reid hung up the phone and looked at Grace.

"Please tell me she was just calling to wish us a wonderfully uneventful Sunday." Grace said.

Reid shook his head. "I'm sorry, Grace."

Grace groaned and got out of bed. She quickly got dressed and packed her go-bag. She apologized to her cousin and said goodbye to Violet, they would be gone by the time they wrapped up the case.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you all for reading. Case chapter coming up next, keep an eye out for it! Don't forget to review! I heart reviews!**


	15. Chapter 15

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Grace. Also, I am rating this chapter M because of the nature of the case, just to be safe._

* * *

Grace was silent and brooding on the plane when the team was briefed. Reid watched as she sat the farthest away from the case file and didn't open her mouth once to add her usual "What kind of sick fucker..." comments and repeat everything that was just said.

Reid wasn't the only one who noticed the change in her behaviour, the whole team saw it. They all knew the "no profiling your teammates" rule, but it didn't matter when Grace, or any of them for that matter looked this upset. In the last few weeks, Grace had become like a baby sister to them. They were all getting used to her extremely emotional reactions and her inability to vocalize her thoughts.

"Hey, Grace," Prentiss whispered. "Are you alright?"

Grace shook her head. The whole team's eyes were on her now so there was no need to whisper.

"A few weeks ago, I was nearly stabbed to death." she said. "That was nothing compared to how scared I am today."

"Why would you be scared?" Emily asked. "The unsub is targeting eight-year-old brunette girls."

"Yeah, only a mother would be that afraid of these crimes." Morgan added.

"What about someone's who's in a... motherly state of mind?" Grace asked. "I mean, spending time with Violet would do that to me, right?"

The rest of the team nodded, but Reid had a suspicious look on his face. Sure Grace had acted quite motherly toward her cousin's daughter the day before, but there was no evidence of fear or nervousness in her demeanour, this wasn't new to her.

The team continued the briefing as if they had never been interrupted. Three eight-year-old brunette girls had been abducted, held for a week each with no overlap and they had all been molested. The team passed the crime scene photos around, examining them. Grace turned away when they were passed to her, refusing to look.

"Just describe it to me, I don't need those images in my head." she pleaded.

When no one would describe them to her, she took a deep breath and picked the photos up off the table and studied them for a moment.

"Look how they're positioned." she said. "Don't molesters value their victims? Don't they usually pose them with their hands folded or in a sleeping position, dress them in clean clothes? I'm sure if we ask the families, they'll tell us these are the clothes they were abducted in and the coroner will probably tell us they were starved. Gah! What am I trying to say here? Um..."

"He's molesting them, but he doesn't fit the profile of a child molester." Reid said.

"Thank you." Grace said.

"Reid, I want you to start a geographical profile." Hotch ordered. "Morgan, call Garcia and have her find any connection between the victims."

"Hey, Hotch." Grace said when they were finally situated at the local police department. "Would it be alright if I stayed here with Reid and JJ? I don't think I can handle those crime scenes or talk to to the families. Not today."

Hotch nodded. "Yes, but don't forget that the local PD will not want to see two FBI agents fraternizing while on the job."

"Yes sir." Grace said.

Hotch left the room and Reid went to the map pinned up on the evidence board. With his nose pressed up against it, he began to draw on it and stick pins in it.

"Uh... Spence?" Grace said.

"Yeah?" he answered, not even looking away from the map.

"What are you doing?"

"Geographical profile." Reid replied. "Based on where the victims were abducted and where their bodies were dumped, the unsub probably lives within this 30-mile radius."

"OK, but that's still like a couple thousand people. How do we narrow it down?"

Reid took his cell phone and dialled Garcia.

"You've reached Penelope Garcia, goddess of the information super-highway." she greeted him.

"Hey, Garcia."

"Well hello Boy Wonder."

"I need you to get me a list of sex offenders between 34th street and Remmington avenue." Reid said.

"Alright."

"Now I want only those with offences to brunette girls under the age of ten."

"And then there were seven." Garcia said.

"Thanks Garcia, could you send that list to the rest of the team?"

"Consider it done."

Grace snatched the phone from Reid.

"Pen?" she said.

"Grace, how are you?"

"Not so good." Grace replied. "This one's getting to me."

She walked out of the room for some privacy.

"Pen, this is just so disgusting, how am I supposed to sleep at night?"

"Well, you do have an adorable, scrawny, puppy-dog eyed genius to sleep next to every night." Garcia reasoned with her.

Grace looked through the window, into the room where the BAU had set up. Reid was looking quite attractive. She loved the look he had when he was concentrating. Of course, he would spend the next few days concentrating on the case instead of her though.

Grace sighed. "It's not like that when we're on a case, Pen. It's like I don't even exist to him. I know, it's really selfish of me to think that when there's some poor little girl out there that we need to find and we would lose our jobs if we even held hands, but I mean, can't he at least say something? Give me some kind of look or signal or something?"

"He's really dedicated to the job, Grace, we all are."

Grace sighed. "I know. I feel so weak compared to the rest of you sometimes."

"I know what you mean." Garcia sympathized. "I still can't look at most of the crime scene photos. Oh yeah, speaking of crime, I've got something for you and the rest of our fine, furry friends."

Grace went back into the room and put Garcia on speaker phone.

"Go for it, Pen." she said.

"Alright, so I looked for a connection between all the victims and their fathers all went to the same high school _and_ they all played varsity football together."

"Awesome, Pen." Grace said.

"Wait, there's more. I checked out all the guys from their football team and I found the next potential victim, she was reported missing two days ago."

"Alright, thanks Garcia, fax us everything you have there." Reid said.

"Will do. Garcia, out."

"Oh God, Spencer," Grace said. "I can't look at this."

They were in the morgue, about to examine the bodies.

"It's alright, Grace." Reid whispered to her, giving her hand a squeeze when he knew the coroner wasn't looking.

Grace shut her eyes tight.

"Well," the coroner said. "They were all starved and badly beaten. Here's where it gets weird though. None of these girls were actually molested."

"Wait, what?" Grace exclaimed. "But there was..."

"Yes, there was semen found on all of them, but no sexual assault actually occurred. Also, none of it contained the same DNA."

* * *

"So, we're looking at multiple unsubs?" Grace asked back at the police department.

The whole team had gathered to review what they had and create a profile.

"Some kind of gang initiation?" Prentiss suggested.

Morgan shook his head. "No, these girls were stabbed brutally. If it were gang related, they probably would have been shot."

"Actually," Reid said. "I think it's just one unsub. Look at these photos, the stabbings are all too similar to be multiple unsubs."

"They look angry." Rossi observed. "Like a revenge kill."

"Then explain why there's a different set of DNA on each of the victims." Grace challenged them.

They all looked stumped. The room was silent for awhile, everyone trying to come up with a logical answer.

"I think everyone should go back to the hotel and sleep on this." Hotch said. "We'll meet back here at nine and start fresh."

* * *

Grace entered the hotel room with Reid behind her and collapsed on the bed.

"I wish my brain was like an etch-a-sketch." she said. "Then I could just shake it and all those images would disappear."

"What do you think it's like with an eidetic memory?" Reid asked her.

"I'm sorry, Spencer. Come here, lay down with me."

He walked hesitantly toward the bed and sat down at the very end, as far away from Grace as possible.

"Spencer, what's wrong?" she asked.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing." he sighed. "This case has really gotten to you and I don't understand why. I know you love Violet, but you shouldn't have to worry about protecting her like you're her mother. Yesterday, when I saw you with her, you looked far too comfortable in that role, like you'd done it before."

"I don't want to talk about it." Grace said.

"You're embracing it one minute and rejecting it the next. Grace, whatever it is, it's tearing you up inside. Please tell me."

She shook her head. "You won't understand."

"Grace, I have an IQ of 187, there really isn't anything I don't understand."

"Relationships."

"Grace," he said, a tone of hurt in his voice.

She sighed and gave in. "I've been a mother before."

"So you lied to me when you said you were a virgin?" Reid said, the anger in his voice rising. "Why? Was that just some excuse so you wouldn't have to have sex with the creepy nerd? You're just using me, aren't you? You just keep me around because you know I worship you and would do anything you ask of me. You're just like Lila!"

"You know, for a genius, you are really fucking stupid!" Grace screamed, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Reid walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

**A/N: Another cliff hanger! And more Grace mysteries! You guys must hate me. Don't worry, all shall be explained in time.**

**Also, I would like to apologize to anyone who's really sickened by this case. It was kind of essential in bringing out part of the plot though and it will all make sense soon.**

**So, don't forget to review! Thanks for reading.**


	16. Chapter 16

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Grace._

* * *

When Derek Morgan heard a knock on his hotel room door, he assumed that it was room service delivering his supper. Needless to say, he was surprised to find Reid standing in front of him.

"Trouble in paradise already?" Morgan grinned.

Reid didn't see any humour in his friend's statement.

"What's wrong, kid?" he asked. "How'd you end up in the dog house already?"

Reid just shook his head. He went to the couch and sat down. He sighed in frustration and put his head in his hands.

"That bad, huh?"

"She lied to me." Reid said.

Morgan smirked. "So, she's not a real blonde? Get over it, kid."

Reid shook his head. "No, worse than that, Morgan." He took a deep breath. "She told me she was a virgin, but she lied. She's using me, just like Lila did."

Wow, it was worse than Morgan had thought. Reid was really hurting.

"How do you know she's lying?" Morgan asked, hoping that Reid was just doubting himself and jumping to conclusions.

"She has a kid, Morgan!"

Oh shit.

"Help me, Morgan." Reid pleaded. "What do I do? I want to be with her, but she lied to me. If she can lie to me about something as big as this, what else could she lie about?"

Morgan had a hard time believing this story, but Reid's emotional display had him almost convinced.

"I don't know, kid." he said, walking around the corner to the mini-fridge. "Domestic or imported?"

When Reid didn't answer him, he decided that this was a time for whisky. Morgan returned to his friend and handed him the drink. Instead of sipping it like a fourteen-year-old at the junior high dance, Reid finished the drink in record time. This was not going to end well.

"Maybe you should just talk to her, man." Morgan suggested. "Maybe it was all just a misunderstanding."

"Morgan, I have an eidetic memory and have reviewed the conversation in my head thirty-seven times since I left the room. There was no misunderstanding. What is there to misunderstand about the sentence 'I've been a mother before'?"

Wow, Pretty Boy really was in some deep pile of shit here.

Reid's phone began to ring. He checked the caller ID and answered.

"Hi Garcia."

"Spencer Reid, I swear to God," Garcia screamed. "When you get back to Quantico, I am going to tear your balls off and-"

He hung up.

"You know that'll only make it worse." Morgan laughed.

* * *

When Grace entered the Minneapolis PD the next morning, she was met with five sets of accusing eyes from the BAU. The pair of eyes she wanted to see, _needed_ to see right now wouldn't even look at her. She sighed and took a seat at the table.

"So, we've got one unsub putting different DNA on each victim." Morgan said.

"Could he be trying to frame someone?" Prentiss suggested.

Grace thought for a moment while the rest of the team discussed this possibility.

_OK, I'm an unsub, _she thought, _I am putting other men's semen on little girls, but I'm not molesting them. Why am I doing this? _Nothing. _OK, where do I even get someone else's... Oh my God._

Grace hauled her cell phone out of her pocket and dialled Garcia.

"Pen, I need you to look up sperm banks in the area." she ordered.

Everyone in the room looked at Grace in confusion.

"Alright, we have one." Garcia said. "Sending you the address right now."

"Thanks, Pen." she said, hanging up the phone. She looked back at the team. "Well, we know where he's getting the DNA."

"Good thinking, Ash." Hotch said. "You and Reid go to the clinic and see what you can find, we're going to deliver the profile."

Grace bit her lip. _Oh shit, here we go._

* * *

"Uh... Hotch?" Morgan said once Grace and Reid had left the room. "You do realize you just sent Reid and Ash to a fertility clinic, right?"

Prentiss and Rossi erupted in a fit of laughter. Morgan shot them a disapproving look.

"Not funny." he said. "Especially after the fight they had last night."

"They had a fight last night?" JJ asked.

"Yeah." Morgan replied. "Grace lied to him, she has a child."

"No, there's no way." Hotch said. "We ran a background check on her before she was hired."

"But-"

"Garcia ran the background check." Hotch said.

"There's ways to cover these kinds of things up though." Prentiss said, knowing all about it. She was now decidedly on Grace's side.

* * *

After what had to be the most awkward car ride of both their lives, Grace and Reid got out of the SUV and walked into the fertility clinic.

"Can I help you?" the receptionist asked.

"Uh.. yeah," Reid said. "We're looking for Dr. Gordon."

"Alright," the receptionist replied. "I'll let you know that there's a six month waiting list for a consult then an even longer wait for-"

"We don't want an appointment." Grace said, annoyed. She showed the receptionist her badge. "We'd like to speak to Dr. Gordon about the murders of three eight-year-old girls and the abduction of another."

"Uh.. yes, I'll get him." the receptionist complied in fear.

Grace tapped her fingers on the counter while they waited. A man exited a room behind the desk and set a container on the counter by her hand. She screamed in terror.

"Eww! Eww! Eww! Get it off me!"

Reid reached into his messenger bag and tossed her a bottle of hand sanitizer.

"Thank you." she said, scrubbing her hands.

"Agent Reid, Agent Ashton, I'm Dr. Gordon." the doctor said, coming out of his office. "What can I do for you?"

"Do you um... Do you _sell_ DNA samples?"

The doctor laughed. "Well, technically yes, why? Is the FBI looking to breed the perfect agents? You two would make a good match, you know; brains, beauty and brawn."

_Oh my God, kill me now!_ Grace thought, embarrassed.

"Actually, Dr. Gordon," Reid said. "There's been three girls murdered recently and they've all had a different man's semen planted on them. Since you're the only fertility clinic in town, we were hoping we might be able to match it to your databases?"

"Well, we guarantee our donors a certain level of privacy." Dr. Gordon said.

"We could get a warrant." Grace threatened.

The doctor sighed. "Alright, but I doubt you'll find anything."

"Why is that?" Grace asked.

"Well, we perform the inseminations here. We don't just sell specimens and let our clients take them home."

_Well,_ Grace thought, _that's a dead end._

"Who has access to your uh... storage, Dr. Gordon?" Reid asked.

"Myself and all my employees." he answered.

Grace and Reid exchanged a look, their first since the night before.

"What kind of security do you have?" Grace asked.

"Retina scan."

"Expensive." Grace remarked, slightly impressed.

"Our clients are desperate people who are willing to pay any price to have a child." Dr. Gordon explained.

"Thank you for your help, Dr. Gordon." Reid said.

Grace and Reid left the clinic and got in the SUV. Reid dialled Garcia while Grace drove.

"Garcia, I need you to check out all the employees of the fertility clinic." he said before she had a chance to threaten his manhood.

"Find a connection between any of them and the victims." Grace ordered.

"Alright..." Garcia agreed. "Oh my God."

"What is it, Pen?"

"Stacy Burton, the receptionist, she was raped by her older brother's rival high school football team when she was eight. She could only ID one of them though and he didn't do hard time because he was sixteen."

"Who was it, Garcia?" Reid asked.

"Tim Greenwood." she replied. "Father of Tiffany Greenwood, the girl who's missing."

"What can you tell us about Stacy Burton?" Grace asked.

"Admitted to the state hospital after she was raped. Released when she turned eighteen. Stayed on her anti-psychotic meds for two years, but now she's off them, prescription ran out last month."

"So, she's showing her rapists what it's like."

"We need an address, Garcia." Reid said.

"12 Samson Court." she said.

"Call Hotch and tell him to meet us there." Grace ordered.

* * *

Grace parked the Suburban and grabbed her bullet-proof vest from the back. She quickly strapped it on and began to run up the front steps of the house.

"Cover me!" she shouted to Reid.

"Grace, we should wait til we have backup, this isn't safe."

"Like you care if I live or die." she said bitterly. "We don't have much time. Burton knows we're onto her, she's going to kill Tiffany!"

Grace kicked down the door and Reid followed her inside. They made their way to the basement where they saw Tiffany, bloody, bruised and tied to a chair. Stacy Burton hovered over her, holding a knife. When she saw the agents, she crouched behind the chair and held her knife to Tiffany's throat.

"Stacy, drop the knife!" Grace ordered.

She did not comply.

"Look, Stacy, I just want to talk." she put her gun down on the floor and Reid picked it up, his gun still on Burton.

"I know what those boys did to you, Stacy." Grace continued.

"They deserve this!"

"No Stacy, Tiffany doesn't deserve this, she's an innocent child just like you were."

"Her father should pay for what he did. They all should!"

"Stacy, I promise you that if you let Tiffany go, all the men who raped you will be punished. I promise." Grace lied.

After an intense stare-down, Stacy Burton dropped the knife. Grace ran to her and cuffed her. Reid untied Tiffany. They exited the house and were met by the BAU, the local police and paramedics. The paramedics took Tiffany and the police took Stacy.

"Nice work, Ash." Hotch said.

"Thanks, Hotch. That means a lot to me."

* * *

While the rest of the BAU slept, Grace sat on the plane, reading a tattered copy of _Of Mice And Men_. Reid was on the opposite end of the plane, reading some technical book. He caught Grace sneaking glances at him from behind her book. He sighed, stood up and went to sit in the seat across from her.

"Grace?" he said.

She pretended he wasn't there.

"I'm sorry... for last night. I don't care if you have a child, I just don't like being lied to." he confessed.

Grace put the book down, but she didn't look at Reid, she stared out the window. "I didn't lie." she said.

Reid became frustrated. "Grace, please stop lying to me. How can you be a virgin and still have a child?"

"You should have listened to everything I had to say." she said, still staring out the window. "I am a virgin and I am a mother. I raised Macy after our parents split and let sex and booze become their number one priorities. I'm the only real parent she's ever had."

She looked at him finally, the same look he saw when he left the room the night before.

He felt like an idiot.

"Grace, I'm sorry."

She wanted him to hold her and let her cry, but instead all she said was, "Alright."

* * *

Grace got out of Reid's car and made her way to the garage below her apartment. Reid got out and followed her, turning on the motion activated light. Grace just looked at him and shook her head. He bit his lip, tried to think of something to say, but when he came up dry, he got back in his car and drove away.

Grace spent her first night alone in her apartment since Reid had returned from New Mexico a month earlier.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed it and I hope I've cleared up some more of the mysteries about Grace. Please don't forget to review!**


	17. Chapter 17

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Grace._

* * *

When Grace entered the bullpen, she immediately felt she was being judged. She swore she could hear her co-workers whispering about her.

_It's alright, you can do this._ She thought. _They don't know the truth._

She sat down at her desk and found a dozen roses sitting there. She smiled and looked at the tag, but there was nothing written there. She got up and ran to Garcia's office so no one could see her cry.

"Pen, why is everyone talking about me? What's going on?" she cried.

The door flew open and Prentiss came in.

"Ash, are you alright? What's up?" she asked.

"Grace, please tell me the truth." Garcia said. "What lengths did you go through to hide your child? I can't find anything."

"You don't have to hide from us, Grace." Prentiss said, using her first name for the first time since she joined the BAU.

"Oh my God, even you guys are against me!" Grace exclaimed, storming out of Garcia's office and back into the bullpen.

"No, we're not, Grace." Prentiss protested.

"Fine, you want to know the truth?" Grace yelled, all eyes on her.

She pulled a picture out of her desk and held it for her co-workers to see.

"This," she said, "Is my daughter. Her name is Macy Ashton. She looks like she's twelve, but she's actually twenty-one. She has Turner's Syndrome, and an IQ of 175. She's getting married in July and starts med school in September. She's my younger sister and I've raised her since I was ten."

The BAU was silent, everyone just stared at Grace in shock.

Hotch decided to break the silence that had fallen over his team.

"Agent Ashton," he said. "My office, now!"

"Y-yes sir." Grace said nervously, heading to his office.

She took a seat across from Hotch, prepared to meet her fate.

"You don't need to involve the entire team in your fights with Agent Reid." he said sternly.

"And how do you know we even had a fight, Hotch?" she retorted. "It seems to me that the team needs to stay out of our fights because I never tried to involve them."

"I shouldn't have to deal with you like you're a teenager."

"And I shouldn't be treated like one!" Grace screamed. "Hotch, I am sick of this. I get treated like I'm some kid you all have to babysit. I thought after yesterday, after I proved myself to you that I would finally get some respect around here."

Hotch sighed. "I'm sorry, Grace. We should never have gotten involved."

"Apology accepted." Grace said. "Hotch... where's Spencer?"

"Reid's guest lecturing today." he replied. "I thought you would have known."

Grace shook her head. "He went home last night."

Hotch nodded. "Have you resolved this fight with him?"

"Sort of." Grace said. "Not really."

"Go home, clear your head." Hotch ordered. "When Reid gets back from the university, I'll send him your way."

* * *

When Grace returned to her apartment, she decided that it was finally time to take advantage of her pool privileges. She changed into a red string bikini and took a towel out to the pool.

She set the towel on a deck chair and dived into the water. She swam around for awhile, trying to get Reid out of her head. Her meditation was interrupted when she heard someone call her name.

"Grace, how are you, dear?" Mr. Jones greeted her.

"Well, I've seen better days, Mr. Jones."

"Better days than today?" the elderly man laughed. "In my seventy-seven years, I've hardly seen a day better than today. The sun is shining, you have the day off work, what could be so bad about that?"

"Boys." Grace sighed. "They have a tendency to make my life miserable."

"Well, if your boyfriend is making you miserable, why do you keep him around?" Mr. Jones asked.

"Well, it's not really his fault." Grace admitted. "We got in a fight."

"Norma and I have been married for fifty-nine years and I've lost count of how many fights we've gotten in. In the end, they just make us love eachother more." The old man paused. "You know, I once read something somewhere and it's stuck with me the all of my life. 'Forgiveness is a funny thing, it warms the heart and cools the sting.'"

Grace thought for a moment about what her landlord said. She had accepted Reid's apology, but she hadn't actually forgiven him. It had all just been a misunderstanding. He had apologized sincerely, why was she still mad? She imagined Reid driving back to Fredericksburg in his blue rust bucket, frustrated because she wouldn't forgive him. And for what? The sake of her own stubbornness and pride in holding a grudge?

"Thank, Mr. Jones." she said. "I uh... I have to get dressed before Spencer gets here."

"Anytime, Grace." the old man said as she grabbed her towel and ran back to her apartment.

Grace dried off and put on a pair of denim Bermuda shorts and a red plaid button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows.

She tried Reid's cell phone, but there was no answer, he must still be driving.

Grace paced the apartment impatiently, thinking of what she would say to him. She was just making her tour of the small kitchen when she noticed the roses she had place on the table when she had gotten home. She picked them up and examined them. She found the blank tag and stared at it for a moment, wondering what it could mean. Time to profile the profiler.

Typically, he sent her flowers when he was gone away. He wasn't gone this time though, so what could it mean? He was emotionally gone, or maybe she would. Was he saying that he was giving up on their relationship?

Grace shook the thought out of her head and continued to think.

The tag was blank where he usually wrote some kind of quote. The quotes were typically quotes about love or friendship and they usually pertained to what was going on between them. What if he couldn't find words for their situation? He didn't know what to say to remedy their fight. But he had to be telling her something more than "I don't know what to say.". What was he telling her?

_Telling_! That was the answer. He was telling her he didn't know what to say, but he wanted her to _tell_ him what to say!

Grace grabbed a pen off her table and scribbled a note inside the tag on the bouquet.

* * *

Reid parked his car in Grace's driveway. He stared up at her window, wondering if he was doing the right thing by coming back when he knew she didn't want him to. It was worth a shot anyway. He took a deep breath and stepped out of the vehicle.

He slowly opened the garage door and made his way up the stairs. Before he could even knock, Grace opened the door. Instead of attacking him with a hug like Reid expected, she handed him the bouquet of roses he had sent her that morning. He looked at the tag and read her message out loud:

"I, SSA Dr. Spencer Reid do not need to say anything. I need to shut up and let Grace talk."

"Spencer, you don't need to apologize for what you said the other night," Grace said, "You had every right to. You could have listened before having a spazz, but that's besides the point. I want to apologize to you for not accepting your apology. Today, I learned that forgiveness is the key to a happy relationship. I started to doubt us when we got in that fight. I wondered if there was any point in continuing this if we were just going to get into a fight every time my past got brought up, but today someone told me that forgiveness is a funny thing, it warms the heart and cools the sting. As long as we just remember to forgive eachother, we'll be fine. I'm sorry I didn't forgive you and I'm sorry I said the things I said, Spencer."

He wrapped his arms around Grace's waist and pressed his lips against hers. She opened her mouth and let him slide his tongue inside, taking all control of the kiss. When he finished with her mouth, he kissed her cheek, then her jaw, then he continued down her neck to her chest.

"Spencer." she sighed.

"Grace, I-I-I-," Reid stammered, still holding her body against his. "I love you, Grace."

She gaped at him in disbelief.

"I love you, Grace." he repeated himself. "I love you and I forgive you. I'll always forgive you, I promise."

"I- I love you too, Spencer." Grace said, pulling him into a kiss.

* * *

**A/N: Finally! Hope you all enjoyed it.**

**Finishing this chapter has given me quite the sense of relief, but I'm not quite sure why.**

**Oh, I discovered something super exciting tonight! There is going to be a spin-off series of Criminal Minds, airing in February. It's got Forest Whitaker (Agent Cooper from the episode, _The Fight_) and I heart Forest Whitaker. So, look it up, Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour. Also, if you're as excited as I am, watch some awesome Forest Whitaker movies. I suggest The Last King of Scotland and American Gun. **

**Anyway, don't forget to review! Thanks for reading!**


	18. Chapter 18

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Grace._

* * *

"Hey, Pretty Boy!" Morgan greeted Reid. "You look like you had quite the night."

Reid looked up at him from the stack of paperwork Grace had forced him to do. His hair was a mess, his clothes didn't match and he had something else on his mind, but that was nothing new.

"Oh, yeah." he said. "It was pretty great."

"Oh yeah, Pretty Boy?" Morgan smirked. "How great was it?"

Reid thought for a moment. "Probably one of the best nights of my life."

"Wow, fill me in, kid. I want details." Morgan said eagerly.

"Well, I came home and we made up for our fight and I told her I loved her and she said... she said she loved me too." Reid said, still in a state of shock and disbelief.

"Cool, but I meant, did you get some, kid?" Morgan laughed.

"Get some what?" Reid asked, confused.

Morgan laughed and shook his head. Overhearing their conversation, Prentiss rolled her eyes.

"How does she live with you?" she asked.

"Hey, play nice, kids." Rossi warned jokingly.

"Yeah, leave poor Reid alone." JJ defended him. "It was a cute story, Spence. Sad, but cute."

Grace broke into the circle of agents and placed a mug of coffee on Reid's desk.

"What's a cute story?" she asked, curious as to what everyone was laughing about.

"Nothing." Reid replied, blushing.

"Here, Spencer, let me do some of those for you." Grace offered, grabbing a stack of paperwork off his desk.

"Wow, how'd you train her like that, kid?" Rossi laughed. "I've been married three times and none of my ex wives would have ever offered to do my work for me."

Reid was still overwhelmed with the embarrassment of being surrounded by so many people who were all discussing his love life.

"Reid's going to have to tell you his secret on the plane, Rossi." JJ said. "We've got a case in Texas."

The whole team groaned.

"Please tell me we'll be home by Friday, JJ." Grace begged.

"I sure hope so." JJ sighed.

* * *

Friday evening, the BAU got off the jet and stepped onto the tarmac. They were just returning from a hard case that had ended in a shoot out between the unsub and the police. The team had walked away, wanting no part in the disaster.

"Where are you two up to tonight?" Morgan asked Grace and Reid. It was too late to snag a date, but he hoped maybe his friends were up for something.

"Heading straight to the airport to pick up my sister." Grace replied.

"What about tomorrow night?" Morgan tried again.

"I'll be in New York, shopping for a wedding dress, but Spencer can be your wingman."

"Oh no, no, you can't let him drag me to another club!" Reid protested. "Please, Grace, sweetheart, don't let him do this to me!"

Grace smirked deviously. "Oh, you're going."

"Yeah, wait, what? Wedding dress? Already? You know you're supposed to test drive a car before you buy it, right kid?"

Grace laughed and shook her head. "For Macy's wedding, Derek. Jeez."

"Alright, well, enjoy him tonight, Ash." Morgan said, getting into his car. "Cuz tomorrow, he's mine."

"Grace, do I have to go?" Reid whined once they were in Grace's car, leaving the parking lot.

"No, but I think he's jealous that you spend all your time with me." Grace said.

"Not true, I see him at work."

"Work doesn't count. Seriously, what did you plan to do tomorrow anyway?" she asked.

"Well, I was going to read and play some chess." Reid replied.

"Don't you have every possible chess game memorized?" Grace teased him. "I feel bad going away and leaving you home. The least you could do is go have some fun so I don't have to feel guilty."

Reid sighed. "Why does he even want me to go to clubs with him anyway? It's not like he needs to find me a girl now."

"I don't know, Spencer. You don't have to go."

* * *

Grace and Reid stood in the airport, waiting for Macy's flight to arrive. Grace was nervous enough to pace, but Reid held her in place. She tapped her foot impatiently, chewed her nails and played with her hair. Reid drew the line when she began to pull the loose threads out of his vest.

"Grace," he said, prying her hand off of his clothing. "Why are you so nervous?"

"Because you're about to meet my sister!" Grace explained. "Other than Charlotte, she's my only real relative. Well, I have like a hundred cousins and each of them has like a hundred kids and then there's all my aunts and uncles, but I'm the black sheep. No one's spoken to me on my mother's side since she kicked me out and my father's side has ignored my existence since he died. This is the closest you'll ever get to meeting my parents."

Reid laughed and kissed her lips to shut her up. He thought it was adorable when she was on one of her rants.

"It'll be fine." he assured her.

Grace sighed. "Can you promise me something before she gets here?"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Promise me you won't treat her like a child? I mean, I know it can be hard because she looks like one, but she's not and she gets really upset about it."

"I won't, I promise." he swore.

"Thank you."

Just then a small, figureless woman with purple hair came running toward them.

"Grace!" she squealed.

Grace threw her arms around her. "Macy!"

She let go and observed her younger sister. She was wearing black skinny jeans, a pink tank top and a black hoodie. Her and Grace had very similar faces, except Macy had no freckles and her make-up looked out of place on her youthful visage. She looked like a child who had been playing dress-up in her mother's closet.

"Macy, this is Spencer." she introduced her sister to her boyfriend.

"Nice to meet you, Macy." Reid said, shaking her hand.

"You too, Dr. Reid." Macy said. "So you're the one Grace tells me can beat me at chess?"

"Uh.. probably." Reid replied.

Grace laughed at her sister. "Beat you? You talk like you're some kind of champion, Stalemate Queen."

The two teased eachother the rest of the way home.

* * *

"It's too hot to sleep!" Grace whined.

Macy had suggested they all go to sleep when they got to the apartment so her and Grace would be ready to catch the earliest train to New York in the morning. Grace had welcomed the idea, but laying in bed with Reid just wasn't as enjoyable when they were both sticky with sweat. She had opened the door to the balcony, but there was no breeze to save her from the inferno that was her bed.

"Just try to sleep, Grace." Reid groaned, half asleep.

The temperature had no effect on him, but that was probably because he'd gotten used to it. Temperatures were never _this_ high in May where Grace was from though.

"I can't!" she whined.

Reid pulled her closer to him, but she pushed him away.

"It's too hot, Spencer."

She thought for a moment about what to do. She could go sleep on the couch, at least she wouldn't have Reid's body heat to add to the discomfort out there. She really did not like the idea of not having him hold her while she slept though. Then she had a genius idea.

"Get up!" she said.

"Why?"

"Please Spencer, just come with me."

Reid sighed and dragged himself out of bed, following Grace outside to the pool.

"No. No way." he protested, but it was too late.

Grace had already taken off her clothes and dived in the pool. He'd been in this situation before and he knew how it was going to end.

"Grace, get out of there! It's not even your pool." Reid pleaded with her.

"The Joneses are sleeping, and I have pool privileges!"

"I'm pretty sure that's only on the condition that you wear a bathing suit!"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. Help me out."

He shook his head. "No, you're just going to pull me in." He turned around and started to make his way back inside.

"Spencer!"

He turned around and looked at his girlfriend. Her tearful eyes and her pout grabbed hold of him. How could he ever deny her anything?

"Fine." he gave in, climbing down the ladder into the pool.

She swam toward him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Lose the shirt." she ordered.

Reid obliged, throwing his t-shirt out of the pool. Now all that separated them was his boxers, but Grace was already taking care of that. She took a deep breath and dove under the water. She grabbed the waistband and tried to pull them off of him, but he put his hands under her arms and pulled her back up to the surface.

"No." he said firmly.

Grace looked at him in shock. The last time, it had been the other way around, she was telling_ him_ no.

"But, Spencer-"

He shook his head. "Grace, I know you're not ready for this."

"How do you know I'm not ready?" she challenged him.

"You're shaking and you sound like you're about to cry, sweetheart. I don't want you to do anything you're not ready for. If we do this, I know that you'll regret it in the morning. I don't want to be another one of your regrets, Grace." he said, tracing the scar on her abdomen with his finger.

She bowed her head, ashamed of what she'd just tried to do to herself and her relationship. Reid put a finger under her chin and tilted her face upward. He pressed his lips against hers, running his tongue between them, forcing them to separated. Her explored every crevasse of her mouth with his tongue. Grace moaned and her feet left the bottom of the pool and Reid held her tighter, making sure she didn't float away. Grace was starting to feel light-headed, she was running out of breath and she could sense that he was too. He pulled her closer and kissed her as passionately as he could with what little oxygen remained in his lungs. He gasped desperately for air then gently bit her bottom lip before breaking away.

"Spencer." Grace sighed.

"Grace, I love you." he said.

"I love you too."

"Grace."

"What?"

"You're shivering."

"Am I?" she asked. She hadn't even noticed.

Reid nodded. "I think we should go back inside now."

Grace agreed and he carried her out of the pool. They quickly put their clothes back on and ran inside. They changed into dry clothes and got back in bed, but after several minutes, Grace began to feel the overwhelming heat again.

She stood up and began to tear all the pillows and blankets off the bed.

"Grace, what are you doing?" Reid asked.

"_We_ are camping tonight." she said, dragging her bedding to the balcony.

He just shook his head, wondering if he would ever get used to this crazy, amazing girl. They laid on the balcony together, wrapped in their blankets and eachother, falling asleep listening to the crickets chirp.

* * *

"Forty-nine... fifty... fifty-one... fifty-two." Reid mumbled.

Grace opened her eyes. "Fifty-two what?"

"You have fifty-two freckles on your face."

"And you're counting them why?"

He smiled. "I want to get them just right whenever I think of you."

Grace laughed. "You're so weird." she teased him. "What time is it?"

"I don't know, we're outside, remember?"

"Oh shit." Grace said, standing up. "Is Macy up yet?"

She didn't even wait for a reply. She went back inside and headed to the kitchen where she found her sister making coffee.

"It's about time you got up." Macy laughed. "How'd you sleep?"

Grace rolled her eyes. "Wonderfully. You know, coffee will stunt your growth."

"I do not care. I would do anything for this hot, caffeinated beverage."

"Yuck. I think Spencer ended up with the wrong sister."

"Well, if you're not here to worship the java gods, go get ready, we're already late."

Grace groaned and dragged herself into the shower. The hot water helped wake her up. She got dressed quickly and did her hair and make-up. She went to her closet and found a suitcase and threw in some clothes, not bothering to fold them.

When she returned to the kitchen with her suitcase, she saw a smoothie waiting for her on the table.

"Thanks, Spencer." she said, chugging it. "At least someone around here loves me." She shot her sister an angry look.

"Well excuse me for wanting to go buy my wedding dress!"

Grace rolled eyes. "Fine, let's go."

The three of them got in Reid's car and he drove them to the train station.

"Call me tonight?" Grace asked.

"Of course." Reid replied.

"Please try to have fun with Morgan tonight."

"I'll try." he sighed.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Grace. Please be safe out there, OK?"

She rolled her eyes. "Alright. See you tomorrow night."

He kissed her quickly. "Goodbye."

* * *

When Grace and Macy arrived in the city, they took a cab to their hotel, checked in, then took another cab to the store. They were met at the store by a saleswoman.

"So, what kind of dress were you looking for?" she asked Grace.

"Oh, I'm not getting married." she said.

The saleswoman gave the sisters a puzzled look. Grace explained to her how the extra X-chromosome caused Macy's short stature and youthful appearance. She figured she probably knew more about the condition than most doctors after having to explain it to everyone who met her sister for twenty-one years.

The saleswoman lead Macy to the petites section and began to ask her questions about style, designer and price.

"No budget!" Grace called to them. "This one's on me!"

She decided to look around the store while her sister decided on what she wanted to try on. She laughed at some of the price tags she discovered. After what her parents had been through, she had always laughed at the idea of marriage, why go through all the trouble if you're just going to get divorced?

As she browsed through the racks of white gowns, she noticed the posters of smiling brides. She wondered if people were ever that happy after their wedding day. She wondered if the beautiful models on the posters had ever even been married.

Continuing her scan of the inventory, Grace admitted to herself the real reason she cringed at the thought of marriage. She knew no one would ever want to marry her. She was damaged goods. Her flaws were infinite. Who would want to spend the rest of their life dealing with her weirdness and her extreme moods?

She sighed and went to check on her sister. When she found her, she was just entering the dressing room. Grace sat in a chair and waited. Macy exited the room a few moments later in a dress that looked to be made completely from feathers. Grace laughed and Macy went to try on another one. She exited this time in a dress that looked like a night gown.

"Seriously?" Grace laughed. "I know that you have a... unique sense of style, but that is just wrong. Come on Mace, I said no budget."

Macy sighed and rolled her eyes. "Why can't I just wear jeans?"

"Because you never went to prom, I need you to wear a dress once in your life."

"Well, what do you suggest she try?" the saleswoman asked.

Grace thought for a moment. "Something elegant, but flattering on her, and it has to be unique."

"I think I have the perfect dress out back." the saleswoman said, trotting off to the storage room.

She returned moments later with a dress in her hands. She handed it to Macy who quickly went to try it on. Grace heard an excited squeal from inside the dressing room.

"Mace, come here, let me see!" she said eagerly.

Her sister stepped out in an off-the-shoulder, loose ivory dress that stopped just above her knees with a slim gold belt at the waist. She looked like a Greek goddess.

"What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape

Of deities or mortals, or of both,

In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?

What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?

What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?

What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?" Grace recited.

"What?" Macy asked, a confused look on her face.

Grace rolled her eyes at her sisters lack of knowledge of poetry. "Ode to a Grecian Urn." she said. "John Keats."

"So you like it?" Macy asked.

Grace nodded. "I love it."

"And you're sure I don't look like a drunken slut at a toga party?"

Grace laughed. "Trust me, you're far from it."

"Alright, I think I'm in love with it anyway." Macy said. "Grace, you should try one on."

Grace shook her head. "Nuh uh, no way, Mace."

"Please, just for fun?"

"Nope."

"Fine, I'll just buy the feather dress then."

Grace sighed and went back to the racks simply to stop her sister from making the biggest mistake of her life. She grabbed the first one that she found in her size and dragged it back to the dressing room without even looking at it. She slipped into it quickly and stepped out of the room. Macy was texting away on her phone, but looked up at her older sister and dropped her jaw when she saw her.

"Oh my God, Grace." she gaped.

Grace rolled her eyes. "You're so full of shit."

"Did you even look at it?" Macy screamed.

Grace turned and looked in the mirror. The dress was strapless satin with beading offsetting the crisscrossing material on the bodice. It had a low, corset back and there were three layers, tucked and draped at the left hip where there was additional beading similar to that on the bodice. She began to tear up and regretted trying it on immediately. Now that she saw herself as a bride, she knew she would want to be one. She would turn into the crazy girlfriend that pressures her boyfriend to propose until he gets scared and leaves her. She went back to the dressing room and got out of the dress as fast as she could. She wiped the tears from her eyes and returned to her sister.

"Come on, let's get back to the hotel and get ready for tonight." Grace said.

"What's tonight?" Macy asked.

Grace rolled her eyes. "You're bachelorette party."

The sisters went to the counter and Grace paid for the dress. They left the store, dress in hand and were lucky enough to find an empty cab waiting for them.

"Thanks for the dress, Grace." Macy said.

"Thank Dad." Grace said. "He left us both money for our weddings in his will. I'm giving you all mine though."

"Oh, Grace." Macy cried. She was lost for words.

Grace put her arms around her sister. "I know, I miss him too, Mace."

* * *

Reid was laying on Grace's couch, re-reading _The Illustrated Man_ and waiting for Morgan to call. He had finally agreed to accompany his friend on his conquest of the opposite sex, but he insisted that he was only going to be the designated driver, no way was he even looking at a girl that wasn't Grace.

His phone buzzed and Reid picked it up. It was a picture message from Macy.

_You have to see this!_ It read.

He opened the picture and saw his girlfriend. Even in 2 megapixels, she still looked stunning in the long, white gown.

_DO NOT TELL HER I SENT YOU THIS!_ Macy texted him again.

Reid smiled and went back to the picture. He wondered if Grace was actually considering getting married. Surely she couldn't be thinking of marrying _him_. What did he have to offer? Social awkwardness and an abnormally high IQ weren't exactly the qualities women looked for in a husband, were they? Plus it was too early. A month of dating wasn't nearly long enough to get to know someone well enough to want to marry them. Still though, part of him wanted to believe that it was true, that she wanted to be his bride. He smiled and went back to his book.

* * *

Grace and Macy left their hotel room, dressed to impress, Grace in a tight, strapless black dress and Macy in a purple halter dress. They tried to run down the hall in their heels to catch the elevator.

"Wait! Hold the door!" Grace called.

They saw a hand stop the door just in time and they got in. There was one man in there, probably in his mid-thirties, handsome and dressed in a very expensive suit, Grace guessed Armani.

"Good evening, ladies." he greeted them. "Going down?"

"Yes, please." Macy said.

Grace watched as the man pressed the button for the 6th floor.

"Oh, we wanted the lobby." she laughed at his mistake.

She soon realized that he hadn't made a mistake when he pulled a gun from inside his suit coat.

"I think it's about time I get what _I_ want, don't you, Miss Ashton?" the man said.

Macy screamed and the man backhanded her.

"You two spoiled little bitches are going to do exactly what I say, or I'm going to shoot you." the man threatened, pushing them out of the elevator and down the hall, into a room.

* * *

**A/N: Another cliffy! I am soooo cruel.**

**So, bad news tonight. Russia beat Canada 5-3 in the World Juniors. I am quite upset. We had such a good start then they just creamed us! Grrr!**

**And more bad news, no new chapters until I finish my essay on Wuthering Heights tomorrow. Is Heathcliff the imp of Satan or a victom of environment? I'm going with imp of Satan simply because I don't like how every girl in my English class is sighing over the sadistic bastard. Come on, he beat his wife and tried to kill her puppy! What is so desirable about such an evil man? I just really hate when books and movies romanticize abusive relationships. There's nothing romantic about them!**

**Anyway, enough of my rambling. Please review! Your reviews are my crack.**


	19. Chapter 19

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Grace._

* * *

Come on, kid, put the phone down." Morgan laughed. "She's probably out having fun, like you should be."

"No, Morgan, she always answers her phone, always." Reid said. "I'm worried about her."

"Just leave her a message, man."

Reid dialled Grace's number again and let it ring until it went to her voicemail.

"Hey, you've reached Grace Ashton, or SSA Grace Ashton I guess. Wow, it's weird to say that. Anyway, I'm probably with Spencer right now and don't really care about anything else, so leave a message and I might get back to you."

"Hey Grace, sweetheart, baby, it's me, Spencer. I'm just checking in on you. You're probably out, having fun with Macy right now, so call me back when you get a chance, OK sweetheart? I- I miss you and I love you, Grace."

* * *

Grace opened her eyes and wondered where she was. There was barely any light, except for a desk lamp on the floor. In what little light there was, she could see that she was in a hotel room, not hers though, hers was bigger and fancier than this, they were definitely in the same hotel though. Then she remembered, the man from the elevator. She realized that she was tied to a chair and she began to scream, hoping someone would hear her and let her go. This woke Macy up and she began to scream as well.

There were some noises around the corner and then the man from the elevator came into view.

"Be quiet, or I'll shoot you." he said calmly.

Grace shut up, but Macy continued to scream.

"Macy, just do what he says!" Grace pleaded.

"He'll just kill us anyway!" she cried.

"No Macy, he's not going to kill us. We're more valuable to him alive."

"I see you're good at your job, Agent Ashton." the man sneered.

"And you're obviously not good at yours." Macy spat. "Why would you abduct two girls and keep them in the hotel they're staying at?"

Grace sighed. "It's the last place they'll look."

"That's right." the man said.

"Listen, untie us and we'll co-operate. Isn't the gun enough? I'm assuming you took mine too."

The man laughed. "No way. I'm in control here, bitch! You'll do what I say!"

"Alright, alright, you're the boss."

Just then Grace's phone began to ring on the desk on the other side of the room. She noticed that her gun and badge were there as well. She knew it had to be Spencer, she wanted him to stop calling, it was only a matter of time until her captor decided to pick up.

"Don't you even think of touching that phone, bitch!" he yelled.

The ringing stopped and the man went to the phone and played the message Reid had left.

"Hey Grace, sweetheart, baby, it's me, Spencer. I'm just checking in on you. You're probably out, having fun with Macy right now, so call me back when you get a chance, OK sweetheart? I- I miss you and I love you, Grace."

A tear fell from Grace's eye, but she held the rest back. She had to be strong right now, she had to stay calm. Spencer would realize that something was wrong then the BAU would come rescue them. They just had to play along with this guy. Who was this guy anyway? He definitely looked familiar.

"Hey, Spike!" the man called to his partner, "See what you can find out about Agent Ashton's boyfriend. We're going to have some fun with this. Hey, maybe we can make something off of him too!"

So he wanted money? Alright, that was typical of anyone who takes a hostage, but he had targeted her and Macy, he knew their names when they got in the elevator. Why would someone target two college aged girls with a dead father? What could he possibly get? They had control of their father's money now and most of it had been spent on university. Unless this guy didn't know their father was dead!

"Got it, boss." Spike said. "Supervisory Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid. This guy's a fucking genius."

The man sneered at Grace. "I think it's time I met your little boyfriend, don't you, Gracie?"

Grace's phone began to ring again.

"Hello Dr. Reid." the man said. "So nice to finally meet you. Gracie here has been keeping you a secret from us."

"Spencer! Help us!" Grace cried.

"Who are you? Where's Grace? What have you done to her?" Reid demanded.

"Oh, don't worry, Dr. Reid, Grace is fine and will be fine, as long as you do what I say. I want a million dollars from you, safe passage to Cuba and you will not notify the police or the FBI, got it?"

Reid knew cases like this, but they were cases. How was he supposed to react when it was his girlfriend?

"Come on, Dr. Reid, are you going to give me my money? Don't you love your girlfriend?" the man prompted.

"Anything you want, just don't hurt her." Reid agreed.

"You have forty-eight hours to get me my money, Dr. Reid." the man gave him the location and reminded him not to bring the cops or the feds.

* * *

Morgan had given up on his friend and was on the dance floor with a gorgeous brunette. He couldn't quite remember her name, it was something that started with an R, Rachel or Roxanne or something, but it didn't matter, he was having fun.

"Can I get you a drink?" Morgan shouted over the music.

"Sure!" Rachel or Roxanne replied eagerly.

Morgan made his way over to the bar and ordered a couple drinks. He looked around for Reid, but couldn't see him anywhere. He told the bartender to forget about the drinks and went outside. He saw Reid talking on his cell phone in the alley.

"Alright, just please don't hurt her." he heard his friend plead.

Reid heard the tone that indicated Grace's kidnapper had hung up. He slammed his phone shut and was about to throw it when he heard someone creeping up behind him. He turned around and saw Morgan approaching him.

Great, how was he going to get past him without telling him about Grace? He didn't have time for this, Grace was going to die.

"Hey, kid, what's going on?" Morgan asked.

"I can't tell you." Reid said.

"Sure you can, Pretty Boy, what's up?"

"No, Morgan, I really cannot tell you." he hoped Morgan would understand what he was saying.

"Reid, you're like my brother, if you're having trouble with Grace, you can tell me. I'll help you anyway I can."

"Good, I need your help. If I tell you what's going on, Grace is going to get hurt."

Get hurt? What the hell was Reid talking about?

"Dammit, Morgan! She's being held hostage and if we get the police or the FBI involved, they're going to kill her!"

"Well shit, Reid, you could have told me that sooner!"

"Morgan, you _are_ the FBI!" Reid shouted.

"So are you, kid! This guy's obviously stupid if he thought the FBI wouldn't get involved when he kidnapped an FBI agent who's boyfriend is also an agent!" Morgan said. "Come on, we've got to get everyone to Quantico."

* * *

"Now what kind of girls don't even have their father's number on their phones?" Grace and Macy's captor asked.

Macy was sobbing uncontrollably and had been since the man had gotten off the phone with Reid. Grace had begged her to stop, warning her about her asthma, but it only made her sister cry harder.

Grace was ignoring the man's question and hoping that Macy would too. This guy must not know that their father was dead and if he found out that his whole reason for taking them was gone, he might just dispose of them.

"Let me guess, you two are pissed off at Daddy because he wouldn't buy you new cars so you've stopped talking to him, but you'll still let him pay for you to go to university?"

Wow, where was this guy getting his information?

"You know what?" the man said. "I'm just going to have Spike look his number up."

"Wait! No!" Grace exclaimed. She couldn't let him find out the truth. "He... he doesn't have a phone, he's working in China now, you can't get a hold of him. He calls me every Monday night though, you can wait til then to talk to him. He'll give you however much money you want, you just have to wait until Monday night."

She hoped this would buy them another day.

The man laughed. "You think this is about money?"

"What's it about then?" Grace asked, completely confused.

"It's about you Grace, it's always been about you."

* * *

"Alright," JJ sighed, entering the conference room and facing the rest of the BAU, including an extremely distraught Reid. "It's officially a BAU case."

The whole team let out sighs of relief.

"Alright, let's get to New York. Garcia, you're coming with us. And do not forget, we cannot let this guy know we're after him." Hotch said.

On the jet, they reviewed what little information they had, Reid serving as the case file.

"She's staying at the Plaza Hotel." he said. "They were already at the dress shop, Macy sent me a text when they left. Grace told me she was going to take Macy to this club she knew a few blocks away."

"Did she ever get to the club?" Rossi asked.

"I don't know."

"Well, that was helpful." Prentiss said sarcastically.

"He sounded nervous." Reid said. "Most kidnappers are usually confident." He paused for a moment to think.

He never had this much trouble thinking before, but now it was like his brain was covered in fog. Just when his thoughts began to lead somewhere, the image of Grace bleeding on Peterson's floor popped into his head and he was overwhelmed with fear.

"He's got a partner." he said. "No way could he hold Grace and Macy captive by himself, they could overpower him. So, he's got a partner and he's armed. He called Grace by her name, there's a personal connection, he isn't objectifying her."

"So she knows him?" Morgan asked.

"She doesn't know him, he knows her." Reid concluded. "She would have shouted his name to me when I called, she knows he needs to keep her alive to get what he wants."

"So how does he know her if she doesn't know him?" Morgan wondered out loud.

"Stalkers are typically people who have seen their victims merely in passing and develop a fictional relationship with the victim in their mind." Reid said.

"So Ash is being stalked?" Hotch asked.

Reid shook his head. "No, if he was stalking her, he would have known about me. He said she was keeping me a secret."

"Well what the fuck do we have to go on then?" Prentiss cursed.

Everyone was silent. Reid slammed his fists on the table and stood up, ready to storm off like Grace would until he remembered that they were on the jet. This stress was really taking its toll on him.

"I think Emily has a point, Spence." JJ said.

"What can we do when we have no idea who this guy is or where they are?" Rossi added. "You can profile him all you want, but this isn't one of our usual cases. We need to profile him before we find a body, not after."

Reid felt completely helpless. Grace was in danger again, but this time they had no idea where she was or how they could help her. What would he do if anything happened to Grace? Before she'd walked into his life, he had been perfectly content to spend the rest of his life alone, but now the thought left him paralysed in fear. What would he do without the one person who understood him, the only person who loved all his strange quirks? There would be no point in living if anything happened to Grace.

* * *

"What do you mean it's always been about me?" Grace asked.

The man sighed. "Since the day we met, Gracie, you're all I could think about."

So she was right, she _had_ seen this guy before, but where?

"Do you remember the day we met, Gracie?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"You're the guy from the bar!" Macy gasped.

Grace looked at her sister, puzzled.

"We were out on the bikes one day, you must have been about 15. It was right after you bought the Shadow. We were on a charity bike run with Dad." Macy said. "You and I played a game of pool while he had a drink with the guys."

The man smiled. "That's when I saw you, Gracie. I knew you were the one. You were so beautiful and the way you were with Macy, I knew you'd make a great mother."

Now Grace remembered. Her father and his big, buff biker friends had beat the guy senseless after he'd tried to touch her. His name was Steven Thorton and he was ten years older than her. He ended up in the hospital and refused to identify his attackers. Grace never saw him again.

"My father, he stopped us from being together." Grace said. "I- I never even got a chance to tell you that I wanted to be with you too, Steven."

"R-really?" he stammered.

Grace nodded. "I- I love you, Steven. I want t-to be w-with you. I even have my wedding dress picked out, it's on Macy's phone, go look."

Thorton walked across the room and picked up Macy's phone off desk. He smiled when he saw the picture.

"Steven?" Grace said timidly.

"Yes, Gracie?"

"Can you do something for me? If you really love me?"

"Anything Gracie, anything." Thorton agreed.

"Could you let Macy go?" she asked, praying that it would work, praying her sister could walk out of here unharmed. "Please Steven? As a- a wedding present to me?"

Thorton went back to Grace and knelled on the floor in front of her.

"Wedding?"

Grace nodded. "Yes, I want to marry you Steven, but only if you'll let Macy go."

Thorton nodded and kissed Grace's bare knee caps. She wanted to puke. She wanted to die. She wanted to crawl out of her skin. Anything to not feel his skin against hers.

He stood up and began to untie Macy.

"Grace, I love you." Macy sobbed. "You're going to have an amazing life after tonight, I promise."

Grace nodded in understanding and Macy ran out the door.

* * *

Macy didn't even bother to wait for the elevator. She kicked off her heels in the middle of the hallway and ran down the staircase. Six flights of stairs later, she was standing in the hotel lobby. She considered running to the front desk and screaming for help, but she realized that the hotel staff would send security and police to the room and Thorton would kill Grace. She asked the first person she saw for a quarter and she went to the payphone and Reid's number.

"Dr. Reid." he answered.

"Spencer!" she cried.

"Macy?"

"Spencer, his name is Steven Thorton. He's got her in room 613 at the Plaza. Please hurry!"

* * *

Grace stared at the ceiling above her. It was smooth, white and boring, unable to help distract her from what she knew was coming.

"Spike, go!" Steven shouted around the corner.

"No way, man. I want my cut!" Spike protested.

The was a gunshot and the sound of Spike's body falling to the floor.

More goosebumps raised on Grace's cold, naked body. She tried to move her arms and legs in an attempt to loosen the ropes that Thorton had tied her to the bed with.

She heard heavy footsteps slowly approach the bed. She closed her eyes as tight as she could, willing her soul to leave her body. She didn't want to be mentally present for this.

Thorton ran a finger up the inside of her leg. She clenched her muscles and tried to close her legs, but the ropes were not loose enough.

Grace wished now that Thorton had have killed her. She'd lost so many things in her life, but one of the few things she had managed to hold onto was her virginity and she wanted to give it to Spencer, not this creep.

She screamed Spencer's name, as if maybe it could redeem her for the betrayal she was about to perform. As if she could convince herself that it was Spencer who was about to enter her, not Thorton.

She ground her teeth together and braced herself.

"Grace!" she heard her name called, but it wasn't Thorton.

She opened her eyes to see who it was.

"Spencer!"

Reid had his gun raised and pointed at Thorton. The naked man was defenceless, his gun was on the other side of the room. Prentiss ran past Reid and cuffed Thorton.

Reid went to the bed and began to untie Grace. He wrapped her in the blanket that was on the bed and gathered her into his arms. He sat on the bed and held her as she sobbed.

"Shhhhhh..." he soothed her, stroking her hair. "It's alright, sweetheart. It's going to be OK. He didn't..."

He felt Grace shake her head in negation. He sighed in relief and held her closer.

"It's going to be OK, Grace, I promise. I love you."

* * *

**A/N: Yay! I finally updated and Grace is safe again. I really need to stop making her the damsel in distress all the time.**

**So I finished my essay today and I think I did a pretty good job in reducing Heathcliff to dust. Also, the cherry on top of the sundae that is my life lately: I bought seasons 1 and 2 of Criminal Minds today! A&E was out of stock, so they don't ship until the 12th and then they'll be like two more weeks to get here, but I'm still super excited. **

**Oh yeah, here's a picture of the dress that Grace tried on in Chapter 18. I totally forgot to post it then, but here's the link: .?id=7720&vendorid=AD&imageno=1**

**Don't forget to review! Your reviews are my crack.**


	20. Chapter 20

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Grace._

* * *

"Please smile, Grace." Reid begged.

Grace shook her head and rolled over, facing away from him. They'd been home from New York for three days now and this was what it had been like the entire time. Grace wasn't speaking, just staring into space with a blank expression on her face while Reid tried anything he could think of to get her to smile. They had been to the doctor the day before, but Grace refused all the anti-depressants he prescribed her.

"I can get through this without your drugs." she had said.

Reid moved closer to her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. She struggled against him and when she broke free, she got out of bed and went to the far corner of her bedroom. She sat on the floor, hugging him knees which were brought up to her chin.

"Grace, sweetheart, please just talk to me." Reid pleaded as he got off the bed and went to sit with Grace on the floor. "Please, just tell me what's wrong and I'll fix it."

Grace shook her head. "You can't fix it. No one can fix me."

"Grace, there's nothing wrong with you, you don't need fixed. You're just a little traumatized from Thorton. Please, sweetheart, don't do this."

"I'm not traumatized, I'm dirty!" she insisted. "He- he-"

She began to cry. Reid pulled her into his lap and held her. He rubbed her back in an attempt to comfort her.

"Shhhh... Grace, sweetheart, it's alright." he said. "He didn't actually rape you."

He knew that Grace knew that, but what Thorton had done to her felt like rape in her mind. He knew that part of her mind was now telling her that she was dirty and un-pure and that he wouldn't want her anymore.

"Grace, please look at me." Reid said.

She brought her head off his should and looked him dead in the eye. Her nose was almost touching his. He finally saw clarity in her eyes, as if her tears had washed away the clouds that had covered them for three days, making all her looks seem distant.

"Grace, I love you. I love you and-"

Reid was cut off by his phone ringing. He ignored it.

"I love you and nothing is going to change that. What happened in that room is not your fault. You weren't cheating on me, you weren't betraying me. I'd still love you, no matter what he did to you, understand?"

Grace just stared at him. He knew that she understood, but she was still blaming it all on herself, still accusing herself of offences she never actually committed.

Reid took his phone from his pocket to see who had called.

"Grace, I have to go. Will you be alright here without me?" he asked.

He didn't want to leave Grace, not like this, but what choice did he have?

Grace nodded.

"Promise you won't do anything stupid, sweetheart?"

She nodded again.

He sighed. "I love you, Grace. I'm sorry I have to leave like this. I promise I'll call you as soon as I can, OK?"

Grace shook her head.

"I know you don't want to talk," Reid said, "But just answer so I know you're alright please?"

Grace nodded and Reid picked her up and put her on the bed. He covered her with the blankets and kissed her.

"I love you, Grace." he said.

"I love you too."

* * *

"Hey kid, what happened to your other half?" Morgan laughed when Reid walked into the conference room alone.

The rest of the BAU looked at the young genius questioningly as well.

"Grace is uh... she's sick."

They all nodded in understanding. While Grace hadn't been physically hurt in New York, anything like what she went through would leave anyone mentally and emotionally scarred. She wouldn't be much help on this case if she was hurting that bad anyway.

The briefing began. Someone was going around Seattle, shooting young, brunette women. Just another day at the BAU.

They finished the briefing and began to file out of the BAU, ready to catch the jet to Seattle. Reid lingered behind though, there was something he needed to do, but he wanted to wait until his co-workers were gone.

"You coming, kid?" Morgan asked, about to step out the door.

"Uh.. yeah, I'm just trying to find something in my desk." Reid lied.

He opened a drawer and pretended to look around. When Morgan was gone, he ran to Garcia's office.

"Garcia!"

"Well hello there Boy Wonder." she greeted him. "What can I do for you?"

"I need a favour, Garcia." he said. "Can you maybe stay with Grace while I'm gone? I'm worried about her."

"Yeah, so am I." Garcia said. "She won't answer my texts, what's going on?"

Reid sighed. "She won't talk, she won't eat. She just sleeps all day. I haven't seen her smile since the day she left for New York."

"Well that's not good." Garcia said. "Don't worry, I'll take care of her."

* * *

A knock on the apartment door woke Grace from her deep sleep. At first she thought it was Spencer, but then she realized there was no way he could be back from the case this soon. She got up and dragged herself to the door.

"Grace!" Garcia exclaimed.

"Oh, hey Pen, what are you doing here?" Grace asked.

"Oh, I just thought you could use some company." Garcia said. "I brought ice cream and Sex and the City."

Grace forced a smile. "Thanks, Pen. I can't guarantee you that I'll be able to stay awake though."

Garcia entered the apartment and went straight to the kitchen to grab spoons for their ice cream. She handed Grace the DVD to set up. Grace sat on the couch and wrapped herself in a blanket. She focused on the movie, hoping it would keep Garcia from asking her too many questions.

Garcia watched her friend watch the movie. She was way to into it. Grace wasn't even a Sex and the City kind of girl, she liked Fight Club and The Darjeeling Limited.

"What's going on in that beautiful mind of yours, Grace?"

Grace shrugged. "Spencer doesn't want me anymore."

"What makes you say that?"

"Thorton raped me. I cheated on him."

Garcia sighed and moved closer to her friend. "He didn't rape you. He came close, but he didn't do it. Reid stopped him."

"What if he hadn't though?" Grace asked. "What if I had lost my virginity to that creep?"

Garcia shook her head. "Reid would still want to be with you, Grace. He loves you. Plus you're probably the only girl in the world who would even worry about Reid wanting them."

Grace laughed. "I guess you're right."

Garcia was relieved to see that the Grace she knew and loved was finally coming back.

"Can we change the movie?" Grace asked.

The two friends put in one of Grace's many dark comedies and spent the rest of the night chatting about their co-workers and their boyfriends until Grace began to fall asleep on the couch.

"The guest room's all set up, if you want to stay the night." Grace mumbled, half asleep.

"Alright." Garcia said. "Goodnight, Gorgeous."

* * *

Garcia awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of her phone ringing. She considered ignoring it, but when she saw that it was her Chocolate Thunder, she answered.

"You've reached Penelope Garcia's 24 hour hotline." she said. "What can I do for you tonight, sugar?"

"Garcia," Morgan said, calling her by her first name, which was never good. "We've got a problem."

"What is it?" Garcia asked.

Morgan explained the situation to her. She hung up the phone and went to wake up Grace.

"Hey, Grace, wake up." she said, shaking her sleeping friend.

Grace groaned. "Five more minutes."

Garcia swallowed the lump in her throat. "Grace, Reid's been shot."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading. Please review. I'm kind of wondering what I could do to improve the story, I'm kind of starting to doubt my plot. Let me know what you think.**


	21. Chapter 21

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Grace.__

* * *

___

Reid was walking down a dimly lit hallway. It seemed like a hospital, but there were no doctors or nurses in sight. He sensed that someone was here though. A few seconds later, this suspicion was confirmed when he heard someone call his name.

_"Spencer!" _

_It was Grace. She sounded like she was in pain._

_"Grace?" he called. _

_"Spencer!"_

_"Grace, hold on, I'm coming!" he called, running down the hall. _

_Every door he tried was locked, there was blood throughout the hallway and words were written on the walls with it. Love. Grace. Life._

_"Spencer!" Grace cried._

_He ran down the hallway faster. He could see a room at the end of the hallway. The door was closed, but he could see red light shining through._

_"Spencer!" Grace called as he turned the cold, metal doorknob. "Spencer, no! Spencer!"_

_He opened the door and saw Grace chained to a wall. Surrounding her was an ensemble of practically every serial killer Reid had ever encountered since he started working at the BAU, including Tobias Hankel._

_"Spencer!" Grace screamed. "Spencer, wake up!"_

_Reid fired his gun, but there weren't enough bullets for all of them. _

_"Please wake up, Spencer!"_

_They grabbed him and held him down. Hankel stuck a syringe in his arm and push on the plunger._

* * *

"Spencer! Please wake up, Spencer." Grace sobbed.

She had just gotten to the hospital, straight from the airport. No one even had the chance to tell her that he was in a deep, drug-induced sleep, not a coma. She had just ran into the room and began freaking out, a typical Grace reaction.

Reid's eyes opened and Grace went to hold him, but JJ stopped her.

"Grace, he was shot in the shoulder!" she hissed.

First Grace was embarrassed, then when it finally sank it that _JJ _had yelled at her, she felt hurt. She was used to Hotch and sometimes Rossi yelling at her, but not JJ.

"Grace?" Reid groaned.

She held his hand. "I'm here, Spencer."

"Do you need anything, Spence?" JJ asked.

Grace stared daggers at her. She understood that JJ was probably only acting like this since she was the only one of the group with motherly instincts, but this seemed wrong. Reid was her boyfriend, it was her job to comfort him, not JJ's.

"Grace, what are you doing here?" Reid asked.

"I heard you got shot, so I got on the next flight to Seattle."

"No, Grace, he's still out there." he groaned.

"Spencer, it's alright. He doesn't even like blondes." Grace assured him. "How did this happen anyway?"

"I went for a walk when we got back to the hotel last night. I needed to think and I wanted to call you without the chance of being interrupted." Reid explained. "As I was walking, I saw the unsub shoot another woman. Then he turned on me."

Grace kissed his hand.

"So how're you feeling, kid?" Morgan asked.

"Like I just had two bullets go through me." Reid replied.

Everyone in the room rolled their eyes. Of course Reid would say something like that.

"Why are you all here, anyway?" he asked them. "The unsub's still out there."

The team had been so concerned about the young genius that they had forgotten momentarily that they were still on the case.

"Yeah, I guess we should probably get back to work." Rossi said.

"Do you need anything before we go, Spence?" JJ asked.

Reid shook his head.

"Reid, there's a sketch artist coming in this afternoon, and don't worry about finishing this case, go home as soon as you're cleared." Hotch ordered.

"Wait, Hotch," Grace stopped him as he was walking out of the hospital room. "If this guy's still out here, couldn't he come back and try to..." she trailed off, not wanting to say what she feared.

"We'll have officers posted all through the ICU and we warned the receptionist to look out for any suspicious visitors. He'll be fine."

Grace said goodbye and pulled a chair up to Reid's bedside. She stroked his long, brown hair and stared sadly at his right shoulder where he'd been shot.

"So, you're feeling better?" Reid asked.

Grace let out a small laugh. "You were just shot in the shoulder and the leg and you're asking me if I'm OK?"

He smiled through his pain. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"Yeah, I'm feeling better." Grace said. "Is it wrong of me to say that I'm kind of happy for this?"

"Why would you say that?"

Grace laughed. "Well, now it's my turn to take care of you."

Reid groaned. "Grace, I'm perfectly capable of-"

"No you're not! You can't even walk." she said. "I am your slave until you get better."

Reid raised an eyebrow suggestively.

Grace rolled her eyes. "Go back to sleep, you crazy fool." She paused to kiss him on the forehead. "I have to go call Pen and tell her that you're alright."

"But I wanted to tell you about the dream I had." Reid protested.

"Tell me when you wake up."

Grace watched as Reid slept. At first, it was a fitful sleep. He groaned and his face looked like he was in terrible pain. It broke her heart to see him like that, but she knew that even if he was in pain, he needed his sleep to heal. After awhile, his face eased into a smile and he looked like he was safe from the pain for now. She heard him mumble her name a few times and it caused her to smile. She leaned over the bed and kissed his cheek, she couldn't resist. He opened his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Spencer, I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's alright." he said. "I feel pretty rested now. Want to hear about the dream I had?"

"The one from before, or is this a new one?"

"The first one." he said.

"Alright." Grace said, taking her iphone from her pocket and going to her dream dictionary app.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Reid asked her.

"I'm going to analyze it."

"I don't believe in dream analysis."

"Too bad." Grace stuck her tongue out at him.

Reid rolled his eyes, but began to tell her about his dream anyway. "So, I was walking down this hallway."

"A hallway symbolizes self-exploration or a new path in life." Grace read from her phone.

"It was dark and there was blood everywhere, and on the walls someone had written love, life and your name. I think maybe it was a hospital, but there were no nurses or doctors." Reid continued.

"Well, darkness represents fear of the unknown," Grace interrupted. "Blood represents life, love, passion, and sometimes disappointments. When something is written in blood, it means that you've invested a lot of effort into that thing and you're not willing to give it up. A hospital suggests that you are giving up control of your body."

"So I heard you screaming for me." Reid resumed his story. "And every door I tried was locked."

"A locked door could be missed or denied opportunities, or the end of a phase or project, or it could represent anti-social tendencies."

Reid rolled his eyes and continued. "So, I found the room you were in, it was unlocked and there was red light shining through the cracks."

"Red represents raw power, courage and passion." Grace said.

"And you were in the room, chained to the wall and every unsub I've ever dealt with was there. They held me down and they stuck a needle in my arm."

Grace put her phone down and moved to the other side of the bed. She sat down on Reid's left side, the side that hadn't been shot. She leaned over him and kissed him, running her fingers through his long, brown hair.

"I'm sorry, I don't need to analyze that." she apologized. "It's obviously just a sub-conscious manifestation of your fears."

Reid nodded. "I'm so scared." he admitted nervously and slightly ashamed.

"Of what?" Grace asked, even though she already knew that answer.

Reid bit his lip nervously. "Of... of loving you. N-not that I don't want to, I'm just afraid of losing you."

Grace nodded.

"And I'm afraid of you getting hurt. I'm afraid of the things that could happen to you in this job."

Grace nodded again.

"If anything happened to you. Grace, if I lost you, I don't know what I'd do. I'd probably go back to..."

Grace kissed him to shut him up.

"Don't worry, Spencer. You're not going to lose me," she assured him. "And you're not going to relapse."

She held him and stroked his hair.

"So, wanna tell me about that other dream of yours?" Grace asked.

Reid shook his head. "The first half was just the shooting. The second part was fantastic though."

Grace smiled. "Yeah, I noticed. What happened?"

Reid shook his head again. "If I tell you, it won't come true."

Grace laughed. "That rule only applies to birthday candles, shooting stars and wishbone, darling."

She kissed the top of his head.

"Still, I don't want to jinx it." he said.

"Since when do you believe in wishes and jinxes and luck?" Grace laughed. "Did you get a bullet in your brain too? The real Spencer Reid only believes in facts and statistics."

"I'll take my chances on you." he grinned.

Grace rolled her eyes. "And there you go again! Is it the lack of coffee?"

Reid shrugged. "Are you offering to get me some."

"No, coffee is not going to help you get better."

An old, grouchy looking nurse entered the room and gave Grace a dirty look.

"He needs to take his medication now." she said to Grace.

"I'll be back." Grace said, kissing Reid goodbye and hopping off the bed.

* * *

"Hey Spencer, I'm home!" Grace called, walking into the apartment.

"In here!" he called from the bedroom.

Grace could hear her TV and knew instantly that he was watching Star Trek. Since she had brought him home four days ago from Seattle after spending two days with him in the hospital, he had barely left her bed. Grace couldn't tell if it was because the bullet to the leg actually hurt that much or if he was just content to let her wait on him. When she had finally went back to work, Reid had managed to drag himself to the living room where he found the un-opened Star Trek DVDs that Grace's step-father had given her before her mother disowned her.

"How come you aren't sick of these yet?" she asked, stepping in front of the TV.

"Hey, I was watching that!" Reid complained.

Grace rolled her eyes. "Even if you didn't have an eidetic memory, you'd still have every episode memorized."

She sat on the bed beside him.

"Feeling any better?" she asked.

Reid nodded.

Grace kissed him.

"What do you want for supper?" she asked.

Since they had returned from Seattle, Grace had cooked him a huge meal every night when she got off work. He complained that she was going to make him fat, but they both knew he liked being cared for.

"I want Indian food." he said, hoping Grace would take a break tonight and order in.

Grace smiled. "Indian food is my speciality."

Reid looked at her in surprise. "How do you know how to make Indian food?"

"Do you really want to know?" Grace asked. "Cuz it has to do with my drug addiction and you said you weren't ready to talk about that."

"No, you said that you wanted to talk about it, but I told you you needed to rest." Reid corrected her.

Grace sighed. Curse his eidetic memory.

"Well, it's a long story, you'll have to come out to the kitchen. I'll tell you while I make dinner."

She helped him stand up and gave him his crutches. He painfully limped into the kitchen and took a seat.

"What are you making?" he asked.

"Chicken methi and methi pulao." Grace replied.

"Need any help?" Reid offered.

Grace shook her head. "Don't you even think about standing up." she warned, then began her story as she started to cook.

"So, I decided to get clean right after Dad's funeral." she started. "I checked into rehab and I went through detox. I was there for about two weeks when the head shrink brought me into his office. He said he was worried about how my problems with authority and my rejection of the twelve steps would affect my recovery. I told him I was determined to get clean, but I wanted to do it on my own terms, ways that made sense to me, I didn't need to replace one addiction with another."

"James Frey." Reid said.

"Yeah, he was my inspiration through the whole thing, how'd you know?"

"_A Million Little Pieces_ is one of the most worn out books on your shelf. Plus you underlined all his ideas about recovery." Reid explained.

Grace rolled her eyes. _Profilers_.

"Anyway," she continued. "I told him that I wanted to leave the centre, but he didn't think I was ready. He kept me for another week and he read my journal. I wrote more than all the other patients there. I never put my journal down. My sober mind amazed me and I didn't want to forget any of my thoughts. There was this exercise we had to do in group therapy where you had to make a list of things that you thought you need to make you happy."

Grace left her cooking for a moment and went to her bookcase. She pulled a folded piece of looseleaf out of one of the many journals and gave it to Reid. He unfolded it and looked at the list.

_Things that I need to be happy:_

_A way to express every thought or emotion I have_

_Sobriety_

_To find myself and figure out what I want to do with my life_

_Someone to love me and all my flaws and not hurt me_

_How I can achieve these things:_

_Stay clean_

_Soul-searching trip in a third-world country_

"So, when the doc saw that, he asked me if I was serious. I said I was. He asked how it would help me get clean. I said it would give me time to clear my head and detox my soul, not just my body. A week later, I was on a plane to Africa."

"That doesn't explain how you got to India."

"That's cuz I'm not finished yet." Grace said. "The group I was with, we were helping to build a home for freed child soldiers. After the construction was done, we were to stay and help care for the kids for awhile. When I met them, I realized how selfish and immature my addiction had been. Those kids were drugged to keep them under the control of the warlords. I felt so guilty, I just had to get out of there. I went to India and I met the Dalai Lama and I went to all kinds of temples and I met all kinds of different people. One man I met, Muna, he was on trial for a murder he didn't commit. He was sentenced to death and the real murderer, some rich diplomat's son, got away with it. That's when I came home and decided to major in criminology."

"So that's how you got sober?" Reid asked.

Grace nodded. "Did I mention that Africa and India are both exceedingly beautiful places that just make you realize how amazing life is to watch through sober eyes? It makes you realize how small you are and how insignificant all your problems are compared to everything else in the world."

She served their meal and they sat in silence for a while.

"So how did you get sober?" Grace asked finally.

Reid was silent.

"Spencer..."

"I don't want to talk about it." he said, grabbing his crutches and limping back to the bedroom.

Grace was hurt. She had just shared part of her life with him, a part she'd never told anyone about, not even Macy and he just brushed her off.

They didn't speak for the rest of the night. Grace took him his medications and a glass of water later, but he did not speak a word to her, he wouldn't even look at her. She went into her closet and changed, but instead of getting in bed with Reid, she took a pillow and a blanket to the couch and spent the night there.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading. Please don't forget to review, even though you're probably all just as disappointed as I am with this chapter. **

**I don't really know what's up with my writing lately. I start a chapter with the intention of going somewhere, but end up somewhere completely different. And they've been quite depressing lately. I don't know why, I'm so far from depressed. Just hang in there, my beloved readers, it will get better and it will go where I planned for it to go.**

**Oh yeah, I'm considering writing a sequel/prequel story when I'm done here. You'll get to see Grace before she joined the BAU and there's going to be a super crazy twist. I'm excited. If you want more details, just ask. I just don't want to give it all away and ruin it or tell you all about it then never end up writing it.**


	22. Chapter 22

_Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Grace._

* * *

Grace woke up on the couch, still angry from the night before. It just wasn't fair, he knew absolutely everything about her now and she still knew nothing about him. She was sick and tired of him being so distant lately.

She sighed and got off the couch. She walked slowly down the hallway to her bedroom and opened the door a crack. Reid was still asleep. She crept in stealthily and grabbed some clothes from her closet and went to the bathroom to shower. Before she left the room, she took one last look at Reid. He looked so peaceful, she almost forgot how mad she was at him.

When Grace was out of the shower, Reid was still sleeping. She wondered if maybe he was faking it, he was always awake before her. Maybe he knew that she would feel guilty seeing how sweet and innocent he looked.

Grace went over to the bed and sat down. He was sleeping on her side, hugging her pillow. She put a hand on his back and whispered him name. He opened his eyes which had that sad, puppy dog look in them.

"Hey Spencer." Grace said.

"Good morning."

She reached for his medications on the nightstand and poured the prescribed amount into her hand.

"Here." she said, putting them in his hand.

"Water?"

She handed him the glass of water on the nightstand.

"Eww, it's old." he complained.

"Poor baby." she teased. "Suck it up, I'm already late for work."

Reid took the water from her and swallowed his pills.

"Grace," he said timidly. "Are you still mad at me?"

She nodded and he looked very hurt.

"What about forgiveness?" he asked bitterly.

"I will forgive you," Grace said. "When I'm ready to. Right now I'm not. There's some things we need to talk about, Spencer. I'll see you when I get home."

She kissed him quickly and left for work.

* * *

It was a very unexciting, uneventful day at the BAU. The day before they had finished up a case in DC and now they were dealing with the paperwork. As usual, Grace finished her paperwork before everyone else. With nothing else to do, she decided to go to the break room, make herself a smoothie and do a Sudoku puzzle. As she approached the break room, she heard JJ talking on her cell phone. She thought nothing of it and intended to go about her business quietly until she heard what JJ was saying.

"Are you feeling any better, Spence?" she asked. "Is she taking good care of you?"

A pause.

"Are you sure? Isn't there anything I can do for you?"

Pause.

"Alright, I love you, Spence, get better soon."

Grace's smoothie would have to wait. She went back to her desk and buried herself in paperwork for the rest of the day, but it was not helping distract her.

Was he cheating on her? What the hell was going on?

"Hey Blondie, what's up?" Morgan asked her. "How's Pretty Boy?"

"He's fine, Morgan." she replied.

"Now that's a lie. Reid got shot in the shoulder and the leg and you're saying he's 'fine'. What's going on?"

Grace sighed. "Nothing."

"If you don't tell me, I'm just going to assume you two are having troubles with your sex life." Morgan threatened.

"We don't even have a sex life." Grace said.

"So that's the problem?"

Grace shook her head. "He's just so... distant. Like, I tell him everything and he never tells me anything. And I'm pretty sure he's cheating on me."

Morgan laughed. "Getting one girl is hard enough for him, I don't think he could pull off two at once."

The look on Grace's face told him she didn't find it funny, she was still worried.

"Listen, kid., I've seen the way that boy looks at you." he assured her. "There's no one else. You make him happier than any of us have ever seen him. As for the distant part, that's just how he is. If you haven't noticed, Ash, he's not really open with anyone. Everyone he's ever loved has left him, with the exception of his mother, can you really blame him for not being open with you?"

"I've been hurt too, and I'm still open with him. Doesn't he see how hard I have to try?"

Morgan shook his head. "He may be a genius, but he's still a man and no matter what, men will always be completely clueless when it comes to women – except me of course."

Grace laughed.

"You just need to tell what's going on." Morgan continued. "He's got that whole autistic thing going on, he probably doesn't even know why you're mad."

Grace nodded. "Thanks, Derek."

"Anytime, Blondie."

* * *

"Hey Spencer, I'm home!" Grace called as she walked in the door.

She heard him groaning in pain and ran to the bedroom.

"Spencer, what's wrong?" she asked concerned.

He winced. "My pills... they fell down and rolled under the bed."

Grace reached under the bed, found the painkillers, popped the cap and put one on his tongue. He swallowed then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, sweetheart."

She leaned over him and kissed his forehead.

"Why didn't you call me, Spencer?"

He nodded toward the phone, it was just out of his reach.

"I'm sorry." Grace said.

She laid on the bed beside him. He snuggled into her side and rested his head on her chest. Grace smiled and ran her fingers through his long, messy hair.

"You're really loving this attention, aren't you?" she teased.

Reid nodded and held Grace tighter. "No one's ever really taken care of me before." he admitted. "There really hasn't been anyone that important in my life before you, and my mother was usually too distracted to notice if I was sick or anything."

Grace kissed the top of his head. "What do you mean by 'too distracted'? You're her son."

Grace actually didn't find it that hard to believe that a mother would just ignore their child, especially after what she had experienced with her own mother, but this was different, this was Spencer. How could anyone ignore such a sweet guy?

"She's uh... she's schizophrenic, Grace." Reid admitted.

Grace sighed. "I'm sorry, Spencer." She stroked his hair some more. "You know, this is why I was mad at you earlier."

He looked up at her, confused.

"You're not open with me." she said before he had a chance to ask.

"I'm sorry, Grace, but it's so hard for me..."

"And it's not hard for me?" Grace cried. "I swore I'd never even look at another guy after I got clean, and here I am, tearing down all my walls for you, going against everything I taught myself and you won't do the same!"

"I'm sorry, Grace." Reid said, sitting up and holding her. "I.. I didn't realize it was that hard on you. You make it look so easy sweetheart. Please forgive me?"

Grace nodded, but continued to sob into his chest.

"Shhhh... it's alright, Grace." he cooed, rubbing her back.

"Spencer, please don't be mad at me for asking this." she sniffled. "Are you cheating on me?"

"Of course not, Grace! Why would you even think that?"

"I heard JJ on the phone with you today and-"

"Oh, sweetheart, no, it's not like that." Reid cut her off.

"Then what is it like?"

Reid sighed. "I had a crush on her a few years ago, but she didn't like me like that, so we just stayed friends. We're very protective of eachother. I think of her like a sister. I'm her son's godfather."

Grace felt stupid and selfish. She had friendships like that and she would be angry if Reid were suspicious of them.

"I'm so sorry, Spencer." she said.

"It's alright." he said, kissing her lips.

"Spencer..." Grace began.

"What, sweetheart?"

"This may not be the best time to ask you this, but will... will you move in with me?" she asked.

"Grace, I... I..."

"It's... it's OK if you say no, but you pretty much live here anyway and you should have to waste your money on your place that you don't even use and I... I like waking up beside you every morning. But I get it if you don't want to, I mean... we haven't been together all that long, and-"

Reid put a finger on her lips to silence her. He smiled.

"You didn't let me finish." he said. "I would love to move in with you, Grace."

Grace threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately.

"Oh, Spencer, thank you! I love you."

Reid smiled. "I love you too, Grace."

* * *

**A/N: So, the next few chapters are going to be things that I had planned from the beginning. I think they'll be pretty exciting, so stay tuned. Please don't forget to review! I live for your feedback. Also, I'm afriad that after Tuesday, updates might slow down to once a week. We'll have to see how much time I have between work, school, exams, homework and all that junk.**


	23. Chapter 23

_Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds, nor do I own any of the Magazines listed in this chapter, nor do I own the rights to the album Infinite Arms by Band of Horses, nor do I own the rights to Against The Grain by City and Colour. I do own my character, Grace Ashton though._

* * *

A week later, after Reid's leg had healed up enough that he could be out of bed for extended periods of time, they were at his apartment, packing up his belongings with Morgan, Garcia and Prentiss. Well, Reid was not packing, he was leaning on his crutches, telling everyone else what to pack and what to get rid of.

"Wow," Grace laughed, opening Reid's closet. "Just when I thought I'd seen the end of the sweater vest and cardigan collection."

Reid opened his mouth to defend himself, but Grace cut him off.

"I'm just joking." she said. "I like your style."

She took all the clothes off their hangers and threw them on the bed.

"You can at least fold these and pack them, you don't need to stand up for that."

"Fine." he sighed.

"What are you going to do with all your furniture now, anyway?" Grace asked.

Reid shrugged. "Get rid of it, I guess."

Grace went through the rest of the closet and then emptied the drawers of his nightstand. She laughed at what she found there.

"What's so funny?" Reid asked.

"Your choice of nightstand literature." Grace laughed. "Every other guy on Earth has _Playboy_ and _Hustler_. You have _National Geographic_, _Popular Science_, _Psychology Today_,, and... _People_?"

Grace took a look at the last magazine in her hand. On the cover was a picture of Spencer with Lila Archer.

"Oh fuck you." Grace said, storming out to the kitchen, magazine still in hand.

"Grace, wait!" Reid called, grabbing his crutches and hopping to the kitchen behind her.

Morgan and Garcia joined the couple and watched as Grace turned on the front right burner of the stove and threw the magazine on top of it. She watched without expression as it burned.

"Why would you do that, Grace?" Reid asked her.

"Why would you keep that?" she retorted.

"Grace, I haven't been here enough to get rid of it." he tried.

Grace felt like an idiot when she realized how ridiculous and immature her outburst had been.

"I'm sorry, Spencer. I shouldn't-"

"It's alright," he cut her off. "I get it, you have every right to be mad."

Reid leaned one of his crutches against the counter and wrapped his free arm around Grace's waist. She hugged his chest, afraid that if she put her arms around his neck like usual he would lose his balance.

"Why do you forgive me so easily?" Grace asked.

"Why do you make it so easy for me to forgive you?" he teased, kissing the tip of her nose.

"Get a room." Morgan said, going back to finish packing up the massive bookcase.

* * *

After Grace and Spencer had finished unpacking all of his belongings and Morgan and Garcia had left, Grace decided to open a bottle of wine.

"To celebrate." she reasoned.

Reid uncorked the bottle and poured the wine. Grace went to her stereo and put in _Infinite Arms_ by Band of Horses, another one of her favourites. They sat on the floor for awhile, drinking and flirting until the CD ended.

Grace got up and took the disc out of the stereo and returned it to its case.

"What do you want to listen to now?" she asked.

"Surprise me."

Grace skipped down the hall to the guest room and returned with her guitar in hand.

"Grace, I thought you quit." Reid said, surprised.

Grace smiled playfully. "Well, I guess I un-quit then."

She sat on the floor and strummed. Taking a deep breathe, she began to sing for the first time in front of someone since she got clean.

"_You need not to climb mountaintops_

_You need not, to cross the sea_

_You need not, to find a cure_

_For everything that makes you weak_

_You need not to reach for the stars,_

_When life becomes so dark_

_And when the wind_

_Does blow against the grain_

_You must follow your heart_

_You must follow your heart_

_When all your friends _

_Have come and gone_

_The sun no longer shines_

_The happiness for which you long_

_Is washed away, like an ocean's tide_

_When all the hard times, outweigh the good_

_And all your words are misunderstood_

_When the day seems lost from the stars_

_You must follow your heart_

_You must follow your heart_

_If you feel, you paid the price_

_And your wounds should cease to heal_

_And everything you love in life, _

_Spins like a winding wheel_

_If you should wake, to find you're abandoned_

_And the road you travel, leads to a dead end_

_When death creeps in, to play it's part_

_You must follow your heart_

_You must follow your heart._"

"Grace, that was beautiful." Reid said, pulling her into a kiss.

He broke away for a moment to remove the guitar from between them. He picked up right where he left off. Grace moaned as he pinned her to the floor and got on top of her without separating their lips. She unbuttoned his shirt while he kissed her neck. Reid threw his shirt across the room then pulled Grace's off of her. The feeling of her skin against his made her sigh. She reached for his belt, but Reid grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"Spencer..." Grace whined.

"No, you're drunk, Grace." he protested.

Grace pouted. "Please?"

Reid shook his head. "Come on, let's go to bed."

Grace groaned and followed her boyfriend to the bedroom where they fell asleep in eachothers' arms in _their_ bed.

* * *

"I'm not a sinner! I'm not a sinner!" Reid was screaming in his sleep. "I'm not a sinner!"

Grace, jolted from her own sleep and shook him awake.

"Spencer, Spencer wake up!"

He opened his eyes and latched onto Grace. She held him and rubbed his back in an attempt to comfort him.

"Shhhh... Spencer, it's OK. I'm here, it's OK. It was just a dream."

Grace wiped a tear from his eye.

"Wanna tell me about it, Spencer?" she asked.

"I... I was back at the cabin with... with Tobias Hankel." he stammered.

"What are you talking about, Spencer?"

"A case I was on a few years ago," Reid began. "This guy, Tobias Hankel, he had three personalities; himself, his father, and the archangel Rafael. He was killing people he thought were sinners. He got me and took me to his cabin. He beat me and made me choose his victims. The personality of Tobias, he gave me dilaudid, he thought he was helping me. It was what he had used to escape his father. When the personality of his father almost killed me, Tobias came back and saved me. I took his dilaudid off his body after I shot him though."

Grace held him tighter and kissed his forehead. "It's alright, baby." she said. "It was just a dream. You're here with me and you're safe and you're clean now."

Grace felt horrible for pressing him to tell her about his drug addiction earlier. His story was horrific, not tragic and pathetic like hers. He never had another choice, it was drugs or death. Grace had a choice when she was running the bag of cocaine back to Peterson after her little "meeting" with his friend, she didn't have to take some of the drugs for herself, she could have made the choice to leave him. She didn't _need_ to do drugs to escape him, but she chose them anyway.

"Spencer, I'm so sorry. I wish there was something I could do to make it go away." she said, her voice ridden with guilt.

Reid shook his head. "No, it's alright, sweetheart, it's over. We can't change the past."

"But we can decide our own futures." Grace finished his sentence. "Whatever doesn't kill us, only makes us stronger."

He kissed her shoulder. "Thank you, Grace," he said. "Thank you for understanding and loving me."

Grace kissed the top of his head. "Rule number one, Spencer, don't ever thank anyone for loving you. You deserve to be loved, there's no thanks or gratitude required."

"But I don't deserve-"

Grace put a finger to her lips. "Don't even. Spencer, you are smart, and kind, and handsome, and funny, and everything else I could ever want in a man. Don't you dare say you don't deserve to be loved."

Reid smiled, trying to believe everything his beautiful girlfriend just told him. "I love you, Grace."

She kissed him on the lips. "I love you too, Spencer. Now get to sleep, we have to work in the morning."

* * *

**A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this one. Hooray for Spencer _finally_ talking about his addiction and hooray for moving in! **

**Oh, the song Grace sang is called Against The Grain by City And Colour. City and Colour (if you aren't familiar) is Canadian singer/songwriter, Dallas Green. City and Colour is an acoustic side project from his hardcore band, Alexisonfire. (Alexis on fire, not Alex is on fire. I made that mistake when I first heard of them.) Anyway, it's a really good song and y'all should check it out.**

**These next few chapters, I'm going to try to get the rest of the team involved a lot more. So, that should be fun for everyone. I'm actually quite excited for some of the things I have planned, but I won't give it away.**

**Please don't forget to review! I love my awesome readers, you guys are the best!**


	24. Chapter 24

_Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds._

* * *

_I really shouldn't have had so much wine last night_, Grace thought as she sank into her chair at her desk at the BAU. She rubbed her temples in hopes that her headache would disappear, but without any luck. She got to work on a stack of papers, but it was impossible to concentrate when her hangover intensified the clicking of Morgan's pen and her irritability. She tightened her fist around her stress ball, but it did nothing to alleviate her stress. She threw it at Morgan, hitting him on the ear. Well, at least it was good for _something_.

"What was that for, Blondie?" he asked.

"Click your pen one more time and I swear, I will come over there and-"

Grace stopped her threat when Garcia showed up at her desk, setting down a steaming cup of what Grace hoped was some kind of hot smoothie, and not a coffee.

"Here," Garcia said. "I know you hate coffee, but it might help your head."

Grace took a sip and felt the pressure on her head ease up a small amount.

"Thanks Pen." she said. "Is this why people drink this stuff?"

"Now you're learning, Young One." Garcia laughed.

"Actually," Reid said. "People drink coffee for the stimulating effect of caffeine, which is a mildly addictive drug, not to cure a hangover."

Grace frowned. "One more word out of you and you'll be sleeping on the couch tonight." she threatened.

"You might want to find another time to punish him, Grace." JJ said, joining the group converged around Grace's desk. "We've got a case."

"Where?" Morgan asked.

"Vegas." JJ replied.

* * *

When everyone was finally in the conference room, JJ began to brief them on the case.

"Three women have been killed and dumped in the desert outside of Las Vegas." she explained. "Their bodies have been... well, just look."

She was at a loss for words to describe what the unsub had done to the bodies. The photos appeared on the screen and the team all stared in amazement, they had never seen anything like this. The bodies were all naked and contorted into strange positions, they were gutted and pictures were painted on the rocks and in the sand with their blood.

"They were all abducted from the same area and they were all artists; a painter, a sculptor and a photographer. By the time they were reported missing, they were already dead."

"Wheels up in 45 minutes." Hotch ordered.

* * *

"How do you stand this heat?" Grace complained as she got out of the Suburban and looked at the dump site, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"I was born here." Reid said.

"I want my igloo back."

They walked a few yards from the road to the place the body had been dumped.

"Well, he certainly made no effort to hide the body." Grace remarked. "You think he could be a narcissist?"

Reid shook his head. "A narcissist is in love with himself, this indicates that he's in love with his artwork. A narcissist probably would have left a signature of some sort."

"So he's some kind of over-confident artist?"

Reid nodded.

"Artists only fake their confidence though." Grace said. "They act like they're the shit, but they're actually over-sensitive and vulnerable, that's their soul and their deepest secrets on that canvas."

"All of them?"

Grace shook her head. "I guess not _all_. You've got your classically trained, no emotion painters, and the pop-artists, but they're definitely not who we're looking for. Look at this!" She pointed to the painting on the rock. "There's so much emotion in this that they painted it in blood. I bet if you sent this to a lab, they'd tell you that the unsub mixed their blood with hers."

"Why do you never assume an unsub is male or female?" Reid asked.

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Well, when a man kills, there's almost always a sexual component and it's messy. When a woman kills, it's clean, efficient and there's nothing sexual about it."

"So you're saying that this was a man?" Grace asked.

Reid nodded.

Grace got down to get a better look at the painting. "I was really hoping you wouldn't say that. These look familiar. Very familiar."

Reid got down beside her and studied it for a moment. "You have a few like this at home."

Grace nodded. "Leonard Hunter, or as he's known now, Len Freelove."

"Does he fit the profile?" Reid asked.

"I haven't seen him in like four years, I wouldn't know."

"Let's get Garcia to-"

Grace shook her head. "Not necessary."

She took her iphone out of her pocket and in a few seconds, she had Len's location.

"He's in Vegas." she said. "Has been for two months."

"The murders started two weeks ago."

* * *

"The unsub is most likely an artist." Hotch said, delivering the profile to the local police and reporters.

"He's more confident in his art than he is in himself." Grace added. "And he's not just any artist, his stuff is a mixture of expressionism and modernism. Nothing in his paintings will look like a classical or accurately drawn, nor will it be pop art."

"The art community is small here," Prentiss said. "Someone definitely knows him."

"The kills are sexual in nature and are all women who were well known in the art community." Rossi said. "He's probably been rejected recently."

"More specifically," Reid added. "He's been rejected by a gallery or another artist he respects, not a woman. The kills are to draw attention to his art, not heartbreak."

"We've discovered that he's using chloroform to subdue his victims. He's also killing them with one quick stab, the mutilation is done after. Pain is not his motive."

"He most likely doesn't even think of these as murders." Grace said. "He just thinks he's creating art. He thinks it's a beautiful expression of whatever emotions he's harbouring on the inside. And trust me, these feelings are strictly on the inside. If he had any other outlet for his feelings, he wouldn't feel the need to do this."

* * *

As the sun sank into the desert surrounding the city and the night sky was illuminated by the lights of the hotels and casinos, the profilers prepared themselves for a night on the town. This wasn't a typical night out in Vegas though, no casinos, no bars, no strip clubs. Their task was one that only Grace seemed to be eager for, they were visiting three different exhibits tonight while JJ stayed at the police station and worked the tip-line.

"Are we allowed to be a couple in here?" Grace asked Reid as they approached the gallery.

"Grace, you know we're not supposed to act like a couple at work."

"Yeah, but aren't we supposed to be undercover?"

"Well, I guess so."

Grace smiled. "Cool. As sexy as your gun makes you look, you should probably hide it. Most artists aren't big fans of guns."

"Right." Reid said, hiding his gun under his suit coat.

He nervously grabbed hold of Grace's hand and was relieved when she placed her fingers between his. Even though they were affectionate with eachother at home, public displays of affection still made Reid nervous. He watched as Grace walked one step ahead of him. She was wearing a navy blue t-shirt dress with roses printed all over it and a thin, braided belt around her waist. She topped off the ensemble with his grey cardigan and a pair of brown leather cowboy boots. Why she had this outfit in her go-bag and how she even managed to fit those boots in there was beyond even his magnificent profiling skills. He wondered why a woman like her would want to be seen in public with a guy like him.

"Y-you look beautiful tonight, Grace." Reid said timidly.

Grace blushed. "Thanks, you don't look too shabby yourself, Dr. Reid."

He was wearing a white shirt, rolled up to his elbows under a black vest (no, not a sweater vest, an actual vest!) that he left unbuttoned. He wore a loose black tie and a pair of tight black jeans. Grace was seriously considering skipping on the gallery and just taking him back to the hotel.

"I wish this was an actual date." Grace said as they entered the gallery.

"You're the one who said we were undercover, just pretend it is."

They wandered around the gallery, studying the paintings. None of them were the style they were looking for, but Grace enjoyed looking at them nonetheless. She loved listening to Reid profile the painters based on their paintings, she was capable of interpreting the painting and it's message, but he could tell you the artist's whole life story by looking at the painting for two minutes.

Next they studied the people in the gallery. Most of the artists actually fit the profile. They seemed cool and emotionless on the outside, but from what Reid saw in their paintings, they were anything but emotionless on the inside. So all they really had to go on was the style of the art, which fit none of the artists here.

"I don't think our guy's here." Grace said. "Let's go back to the hotel."

Reid agreed and the two left the gallery.

Once they were in their room with their door locked, Grace took off Reid's vest and his tie. Completely oblivious to Grace's advances, he sat at the desk and took a notebook from his messenger bag. He began to review the case and entered a state of complete concentration. Grace rolled her eyes and collapsed on the bed.

"Spencer, could you stop your mind for like two minutes?" Grace asked.

He looked up at her, confused. "If I did that, I'd stop breathing and I would die."

"I didn't mean it literally!" she stressed. "Seriously though, can't you just forget about the case for a minute or two? We have this room all to ourselves and all you can think about is some sick murderer? It's not fair, Spencer."

"I'm sorry, Grace, but we're supposed to be working right now."

"Fine." Grace sighed in defeat. She got her laptop from her go-bag and commenced her search through the local artists. After several minutes, they were interrupted by Reid's phone ringing.

"Reid here." he said.

"Hey, it's Prentiss, we've got him. Get down here."

"Alright, we're on our way."

* * *

Grace and Reid pulled up to the police station at the same time as Hotch and Prentiss. Morgan and Rossi arrived just a few moments later. Grace watched from the passenger seat as Hotch pulled a handcuffed man from the back of the SUV. A lump formed in her throat when she saw who it was. A tall, lanky man with long blonde hair, tied back in a ponytail, wearing a tie-died t-shirt, it was Leonard Hunter.

"Grace, are you OK?" Reid asked her.

"It's... it's Len." she choked. "He... he wouldn't... he _couldn't_ do this."

Grace walked slowly into the police station, as if in a daze. She watched her old friend through the window of the interrogation room. She watched as he tapped his fingers nervously on the table. He removed the hair elastic from his hair and wrapped it around his wrist, snapping it against his skin a few times then running his hands through his hair obsessively.

"It's not him," Grace said the the rest of the BAU. "He doesn't fit the profile."

"Leonard Freelove fits the profile perfectly." Hotch affirmed.

Grace shook her head in negation. "Leonard Freelove might fit the profile, but Leonard Hunter doesn't. Freelove is a character he made up in high school after his parents divorced."

"This could be a case of multiple personality disorder." Rossi suggested.

"No, he could differentiate between the two. It was just his way of coping." Grace urged.

"In that time it's possible that he convinced himself that he is Freelove and developed Dissociative Identity Disorder." Reid said.

"I don't care, Len's in there."

"How can you know, Grace?" Reid asked. "You haven't seen him in three years!"

Grace stared into the interrogation room again. "See what he's doing with his hair? Leonard Hunter plays with his hair, not Leonard Freelove."

Hotch sighed, there would be no arguing with Grace. "Ash, I'll let you interview him, but I'm going to send Rossi in first to try to crack Freelove, then you can deal with Hunter."

* * *

"You're going to prison for a very long time, Leonard." Rossi said. "If you co-operate, you might get it easy."

"I didn't do anything." Leonard insisted.

Rossi ignored him. Freelove was putting Hunter's personality in the spotlight because he wouldn't know if Freelove killed anyone or not. They'd seen this before with Adam Jackson in Florida. "Do you know what they do to guys like you in prison, Leonard? Guys with long, blonde hair and a feminine figure?"

"I didn't kill anyone!" Leonard screamed. "You stupid feds can't do anything right, can you? Instead of finding the real killer, you just blame the easiest target!"

Rossi lightened up a bit, hoping this meant that Leonard knew who the real killer was. "And what makes you the easiest target?"

Leonard bit his lip. "I'm an artist. I do drugs, I paint stuff people wouldn't show their children, I start protests, I'm a deviant, a shit-disturber. You know, as soon as your hair grows past your ears, everyone thinks you're the spawn of Satan."

Outside the interrogation room, everyone was watching Grace who was watching Leonard.

"Is he Freelove or Hunter now?" Morgan asked.

Grace shook her head. "The two share the same opinions, I can't tell. I need to see a reaction. Freelove will have a spazz and flip the table, Hunter will cry."

Sure enough, Leonard began to cry.

Grace entered the room and sent Rossi out.

"Grace!" Leonard exclaimed. "Grace, is it really you?"

Grace nodded. "Yeah, it's me Len. Listen, I'm sorry about him. What's going on?"

Leonard looked around the room anxiously. "Are... are you one of them, Grace? Are you a fed?"

"Are you high, Len?" Grace asked.

He nodded.

"Yes, I'm one of them, Len, but I'm here to help you." Grace said.

"I didn't do it, Grace. I swear I never touched those girls." Leonard insisted.

"I believe you, Len, but I need you to answer all my questions so I can have you cleared."

Leonard nodded again.

"Where were you last night?"

Leonard shook his head. "I don't remember."

Grace bit her lip. This was not good, memory loss was a sign of dissociative identity disorder.

"Try to remember, Len. Last night, where were you?" she urged.

"You could ask Arianna, she manages my exhibit. I was so high last night, Grace, I can't remember anything."

"Did you know the victims, Leonard? Samantha Black? Sarah Carter? Angela Wiser?"

"Yeah, I knew them all." Leonard confirmed.

"How did you know them?" Grace asked.

Leonard thought for a moment before saying, "Galleries and parties. They were just friends, it that's what you're getting at."

Grace sighed, frustrated by his hostility. "Do you have any idea who could have done this? Could someone be trying to frame you? Get back at you? Did you recently reject someone?"

"Actually, now that you mention it," Leonard said, "There might be someone."

Grace leaned closer to him, listening attentively.

"His name was Dylan Quade. I was really out of it about three weeks ago. I think I was at some rave or something. I don't remember it too well, but I think I might have... I think I might have hooked up with him. A few days later he approached me at my exhibit and he tried to kiss me, called me his boyfriend." Leonard paused. "Grace, I'm not gay. He was making a scene so I told him to get the fuck outta there before I shot him. He started crying and he knocked over a bunch of sculptures. He told me I'd regret it."

Grace sighed in relief. "Oh, Len, I knew it couldn't be you. We're going to call Arianna and get you an alibi then we're going to find this guy."

* * *

"Hey there, hot stuff." Leonard said to Prentiss. He was no longer in the interrogation room, he was giving the BAU phone numbers of people who could provide him with an alibi.

Prentiss ignored him.

"So you carry a gun, huh?" Leonard persisted, straddling a chair beside Prentiss. "You know, I like a woman who can handle a weapon."

Prentiss rolled her eyes. "You are repulsive."

Leonard smirked. "Don't play hard to get, darlin'. They call me Freelove for a reason, baby."

"Any luck on Arianna Grossman?" Prentiss asked Morgan, still ignoring Leonard.

Morgan hung the phone up and shook his head. "No answer."

Hotch stepped quickly into the room, obviously about to announce something. "And you're not going to get one, Morgan. Arianna Grossman is dead."

* * *

**A/N: Ok, I lied, updates aren't going to slow down _that_ much. Anyway, I hope you all liked this one. It's kind of different from what I usually write. I thought we needed a good case right about now and it'll be important later on. My apologies for not having enough Reid/Grace action. Don't worry though, the next few chapters are going to be sweet.**

**Oh yeah, I discovered last night that the link I put up for the dress Grace tried on wasn't clickable, so if you're interested in seeing it, send me a message and I'll send you the link.**

**Don't forget to review! You guys are the best!**


	25. Chapter 25

_Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds. I do however, own Grace and the rest of my OCs._

* * *

"Reid, Ash, you stay here with Hunter, Freelove, whatever it is." Hotch ordered. "Morgan and I will go to the dump site, Prentiss and Rossi will go to Arianna's apartment, then the gallery."

Reid nodded and Grace bit her lip. She knew shit was going to hit the fan when they were left alone with Len.

Sure enough, Leonard reached across the desk when everyone left and attempted to touch Grace's hand. Reid looked at his girlfriend and he high school friend suspiciously, but didn't say anything. Grace pulled her hand away from Leonard and glared at him. Reid's face lightened, but he was still curious about what kind of relationship Grace and Leonard really had.

"Len, don't." she said. "I'm an FBI agent, I can't fraternize with a suspect."

"I didn't think I was a suspect anymore." Leonard said.

"You haven't been cleared yet. You have no alibi. For all we know, you could have made up the story about Quade. I've seen you lie for less, _Freelove_."

Leonard was hurt when Grace used his fake name. She knew the real him, knew he couldn't have done this. Why would she be so cold? He was only trying to reconnect with the beautiful woman he had lost in the twelfth grade.

"Come on, Grace," he said, "You're going to be like this after all we've been through?"

Grace rolled her eyes. "Maybe I was wrong, maybe you are _completely fucking delusional_!" she screamed. "Len," she said, calming down, "_We_ haven't been through _anything_! You rejected me when I asked you to prom. So you see now what you're missing out on and want to make it up to me? How 'bout you try not embarrassing me in front of my boyfriend?"

Leonard looked at Reid for the first time since he entered the police station. The cool, Don Juan personality of Leonard Freelove faded and Leonard Hunter returned.

"I'm sorry, Grace." Leonard apologized.

The three spent the rest of their time together in silence; Leonard sitting Indian style in his chair, meditating, Reid some book he had in his messenger bag, and Grace pacing the room nervously.

As the sun came up, Grace's pacing slowed and she eventually collapsed in the chair beside Reid. She laid her head on the desk and fell asleep. Her eyes hadn't been closed more than two minutes when Reid's phone rang on the desk, just inches from her head.

"This better be fucking important." Grace said into the phone. "You just interrupted my beauty sleep."

Morgan laughed on the other end of the phone. "Like you need beauty sleep, Blondie."

"Save it for Garcia." Grace said. "Now either you tell me what you called for, or I'm going back to sleep."

"Well, we were able to find someone who gave an alibi for Freelove. Garcia's got an address on Dylan Quade, we're headed there now." Morgan informed her.

"We'll meet you there."

"Actually," Morgan said, "You two should take Freelove to his hotel."

"Alright."

* * *

"Wow," Grace said as they pulled up to Leonard's hotel. "The Luxor."

Leonard smirked. "Yeah, I had drinks with Criss Angel _and_ Carrot Top last night."

"I'm sure you did." Grace laughed sarcastically.

"You two should come in with me," Leonard invited. "I'll buy you some drinks."

Grace looked at Reid for his approval.

"It's 7 am." he said.

"And I'm Leonard fuckin' Freelove!" Leonard laughed like a maniac, getting out of the SUV.

"Just humour him." Grace said, following Leonard.

Reid sighed in defeat and followed Grace and Leonard halfheartedly. He was not entirely sure how relationships were supposed to work, but something was telling him that it wasn't normal for him to be having drinks at 7am with his girlfriend and her old flame. His thoughts were interrupted though when someone shouted at them outside the hotel doors.

"Leonard!" a suave looking brunette man yelled.

Grace and Reid pulled out their guns.

"Do you love me now, Leonard?" the man asked.

"Play along." Grace whispered the order to Leonard.

"Yeah," Leonard said nervously. "I... I love you, Dylan."

The man sneered. "Well, I don't love you anymore, Leonard."

Grace froze in fear. _Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! Don't shoot! Please don't shoot, I don't have my vest on, _she thought.

"Yes, you do." Reid said.

"What?" Quade demanded.

"You do love him, Dylan." Reid repeated. "If you didn't love Leonard, you wouldn't have made those paintings for him, you wouldn't have killed for him."

Quade began to cry, but kept his gun pointed at the trio.

"I just wanted to show him how much I loved him." Quade begged.

"You killed his friends, you hurt him." Reid said. "The only way you can show him you love him now is if you put an end to the killing. How will Leonard know you love him if you kill him and us?"

Quade dropped his gun and got on his knees with his hands behind his head. Reid ran to him and cuffed him. Grace called Hotch to let him know they got him. Leonard thanked the agents and went inside the hotel, headed straight to the bar.

* * *

"I don't get it." Grace thought out loud.

"What don't you get, Blondie?" Morgan laughed.

Hotch was interrogating Quade, the rest of the team watching. Grace got about twenty minutes in and had to leave before she had a panic attack, overwhelmed by the stress and lack of sleep.

"Well, Quade was going to shoot Len," she said. "But our unsub was a stabber, not a shooter."

"He fits the profile, and he admitted to the murders." Morgan assured her.

Grace stood up and began to pace again. "No... no, that's not right. I don't think he actually said that he killed them, and he's giving Hotch a hard time in there. He just keeps saying that he loves Len."

Morgan called for Reid and asked him to recount everything that Quade had said during their stand-off.

"He didn't say he killed them." Reid realized. "He never admitted it, he just said that he loved Leonard."

"Then who the fuck killed these women?" Grace demanded.

No one had an answer for her.

"I'm going to see Len, see if he can think of anyone else it might be." Grace said. "Who's coming with me?"

Reid didn't say anything like Grace expected him to. She felt like she'd been stabbed in the heart.

"Sp-" she choked as he walked away.

"Looks like it's just you and me, Blondie." Morgan teased.

Grace was not in the mood for Morgan's teasing though. She walked sombrely to the vehicle.

"Morgan, what's wrong with Spencer?" she asked once they were on the road.

"We'll need more than a drive across Vegas for me to tell you that whole list." Morgan laughed.

"Is he mad about Len?" Grace whimpered, ignoring Morgan's joke.

"Probably." Morgan replied.

Grace sighed. "I don't understand. Len's just my friend from high school. Why is he jealous?"

"Any man would be jealous, Blondie." Morgan said. "Not just Reid."

"Well, how do I fix this?" Grace pleaded for his help.

"Just tell him." Morgan said.

They arrived at the hotel and went to the front desk to ask for Leonard's room. The receptionist refused them until they showed their badges.

"You know Reid's terrified of these things?" Morgan laughed as he pressed the button for the 16th floor in the elevator.

Grace laughed. "Really? Cuz I heard that you're the one who's scared of elevators."

A devious smile spread across her face.

"Don't you even-" Morgan tried to threaten.

Grace jumped up and down several times and Morgan tried to grasp the walls. She erupted in a fit of laughter.

"You're lucky you're a woman." Morgan said as they stepped out of the elevator.

"No, no! Please don't!" they heard a familiar voice screaming from a room down the hall.

The agents drew their guns and hurried to Leonard's room. The door was open a crack and Morgan entered first. Standing on a table in the corner of the room was a deranged looking red-headed woman. She had a knife at Leonard's throat.

"I can't get a shot." Morgan growled.

"Put the guns down or I'll kill him!" the woman ordered.

Grace and Morgan set their guns on the floor.

"Wh-why do you want to kill Leonard?" Grace said, getting between the woman and Morgan.

"He's just my puppet." she said. "All these years, _I_'ve been the painter! I sent my ideas to him and he painted them for me. But he's not listening to me anymore!" the woman snapped. She made some angry animal noises and ran the tip of the blade against Leonard's throat, drawing a speck of blood. "He's not listening to me anymore and I have to finally claim my paintings as my own! Leonard Freelove must die!"

Leonard was sobbing and begging for his life to be spared.

"Come here." Grace said to the red-head.

"Why?" she asked.

"I'd like to shake hands with my favourite artist, of course." Grace laughed.

The woman released Leonard and stepped off the table, toward Grace. She slipped the knife into her pocket and outstretched her right hand. Grace took her hand then overpowering her, she flipped her around, grabbed her other hand and cuffed her.

"What's your name?" she demanded.

"Clara... Clara Mayberry." the red-head whimpered.

"Clara Mayberry, you're under arrest for the murders of Samantha Black, Sarah Carter, Angela Wiser and Arianna Grossman, and the attempted murder of Leonard Freelove."

* * *

"So, you were wrong about the gender thing." Grace said to Reid on their way back to the hotel. After a long day of interrogation, Dylan Quade and Clara Mayberry were headed to prison and the BUA was headed back to their hotel to finally get some rest before their flight back to Quantico in the morning.

It was their first real conversation of the day. "Well, technically, yes, but when we saw the dump site, we weren't really profiling Mayberry, we were profiling Leonard. She was obsessed with and jealous of his art to the point that she claimed it to be her own. She made the dump sites look like something he would paint so she could ruin him and take the spotlight."

Grace nodded and was silent for a moment. "Spencer..." she said finally. "Are... are you mad at me?"

Reid shook his head.

"Well if you're not mad, what are you?" Grace persisted. "Because I'm sick of this silent treatment."

Reid looked at her from the passenger seat of the SUV. "OK, I'm a little mad, but I'm mostly just upset."

Grace sighed. "Spence-"

"Grace, every time I turn around, there's an ex of yours trying to kill you or rape you and now there's one who's trying to win you back and he's succeeding!" Reid yelled.

Grace never thought Reid could get angry like this. She bit her lip and tried not to cry.

"Spencer, I was never _ever_ with Leonard. He rejected me years ago and it hurt like hell!" she defended herself. "He wasn't _succeeding. _I wouldn't even consider leaving you for him!"

"Then why were you flirting with him?"

"I wasn't flirting with him!" Grace screamed. "He was a witness who was almost killed twice in one day and I ended up having to protect him both times!"

"You over-stepped Morgan to protect him!" Reid argued.

"He was one of my best friends in high school! Do you know _why_ I fell for him, Spencer?" Grace cried. "After his best friend cheated on me, left me for a girl who was pregnant with someone else's child and had his mother try to run me down in her car, Len was the only shoulder I had to cry on, he beat the shit out of Kris for me. Even Kass was on Kris's side."

Reid reached for Grace's hand. "I'm sorry, sweetheart." he said.

"I forgive you," Grace said, brushing his hand away. "But you know how bad I am with two hands on the wheel. You must have some kind of statistic to prove our chances of death are drastically increased if I only have one hand on here."

Reid smiled, happy to have resolved this issue with Grace. He should have seen her loyalty to her old friend, but this relationship thing was messing with his otherwise extraordinary mind. He was blind to logic when it came to her and his emotions took control.

"I love you." he said, leaning across the vehicle and kissing Grace's cheek.

She smiled. "I love you too, and I should apologize to you for even letting you think there was something between Len and I."

Reid shook his head. "You don't have to apologize, Grace."

She sighed in frustration at her overly-forgiving boyfriend. "Fine, I won't apologize _if_ you agree to three things."

Reid nodded.

"Would you be my date to Kass and Macy's weddings?" Grace asked.

"Of course." Reid agreed.

Grace smiled at her accomplishment. "Do you want to go on vacation with me?"

"Vacation?" Reid asked in surprise.

Grace rolled her eyes. "I know you probably have no idea what a vacation is, but I would really love it if you spent a couple weeks at my cabin with me after the weddings."

Reid thought about what it would be like to take a vacation with Grace. No cases, no unsubs, no paperwork. Just him and Grace, all alone for two weeks. Maybe with all that free time he could make her understand Star Trek and basic physics.

He smiled. "I would love to go on vacation with you, Grace."

"Awesome." she said. "You're the best." Grace paused and bit her lip before asking her third question. "Spencer... when we get back to the hotel... could we um..."

"No."

"But-"

"Grace, you said you wanted to wait." Reid said. "I'm trying to respect that, but do you have any idea how hard it is for me to resist you?"

"Yeah, I'm sure it's _real_ hard." Grace said sarcastically.

"You're only trying to do this because you're afraid of losing me." Reid said.

Grace was speechless. If she didn't know him better, she would have gotten angry at him for being so full of himself, but she knew he was only speaking the truth. She just wanted some way to make sure that the greatest man she ever met would be the first one willing to stick around.

Reid took Grace's right hand off the steering wheel and held it in his. He stared at her intensely, even though she could not take her eyes off the road for more than a second to make eye contact.

"I'm not going anywhere Grace." Reid said. "I promise."

"Really?" Grace asked, a tear trickling down her cheek. "You're not just lying like the rest of them?"

"No, I'm not lying." Reid said. "I know there's really no way for me to prove it to you, but I want you to trust me."

So he was playing the trust card now. Grace sighed, knowing that the only way for this relationship to go any farther was for her to trust him. Tear down all the walls and just let him in. Give him the chance to cheat on her, hit her, abuse her and leave her like all the men before him.

"You deal in statistics though." Grace said. "One hundred percent of men I have been with have hurt me in some way. Those statistics say that you will too."

"I wouldn't rely on statistics in this situation though, an accurate profile of myself is probably more helpful," Reid said, rambling in his usual way. "And you and I both know that I'm not capable of hurting you, or anyone."

Grace smiled, knowing that Reid really wasn't the type of guy that would hit her, make her feel worthless or cheat on her.

"I know, Spencer..." Grace said softly. "I'm... I'm going to try to trust you. I want you to know that even if I can't, I want to."

Reid nodded and kissed Grace's hand. "I love you." he said.

"I love you too."

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading guys, please don't forget to review!**

**I hope you all enjoyed meeting Len. He's a colourful character when he's not about to be killed. He will be reappearing in following chapters.**

**I'm going to try to get the next chapter up this weekend, but I've got a law project and scholarship applications to do this weekend, so just bear with me.**

**Anyway, the Friday night Criminal Minds marathon is on A&E right now, so I must go. Au revoir.**


	26. Chapter 26

_Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds, just my OCs._

_Warning: Chapter contains talk of suicide. Nothing major, just mention of Grace's previous attempts, but I thought I should warn you all anyway._

* * *

Grace awoke the next morning to the sound of running water in the bathroom of the hotel room. She rolled over to find that Reid was already out of bed, but he hadn't been for long, the spot where he had slept was still warm. Grace stretched then moved over to Reid's side of the bed. She pulled the blankets up to her ears and closed her eyes.

Reid came out of the bathroom, already dressed and freshly shaven. He smiled when he saw Grace curled up where he had been sleeping, taking in his lingering body heat. The way the sun hit her made her glow. She looked beautiful and he was reluctant to wake her, but knew he had to or she would miss the plane.

"Hey sweetheart," Reid said, sitting on the bed beside Grace, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Time to wake up."

"No..." Grace groaned.

Reid stroked her hair. "I know you're tired," he said, "But you need to wake up or you'll miss the plane."

"God forbid I get stuck in Vegas!" Grace laughed drowsily. "Whatever would I do with myself?"

"Come on, sweetheart, get up." Reid said. "I've got your bags all packed. Do you want some breakfast?"

Grace sat up and rubber her eyes. She looked around the room and noticed her bags packed and waiting by the door, but Reid's were still open and his things still scattered through the room.

"Why haven't you packed yet, Spencer?" she asked curiously.

"I'm uh... I'm going to stay another day." he said. "I'm going to see my mother."

"Can I come?" Grace's question surprised Reid.

"Why would you want to meet my mother?" he asked.

"Why wouldn't I?" Grace countered.

Reid sighed. "Grace, she's schizophrenic, she might not even be lucid today."

"But Spencer, I'm your girlfriend!" Grace argued. "I'm supposed to meet your mother at some point in this relationship. Why not now? When will we get another chance to be back in Vegas?"

"Grace, she's not well, she's in a sanitarium."

"Spencer, _I_ should probably be in a sanitarium! Your mother's schizophrenia is _not_ going to scare me off, Spencer. If you haven't noticed, I'm kind of used to crazy."

Reid had to admit, compared to everything Grace had seen at the BAU, his mother's schizophrenia was nothing.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.

Grace nodded.

"Alright, I'll go tell everyone not to wait for us."

"Alright, I'm going back to sleep." Grace said, sinking back beneath the blankets and shutting her eyes.

* * *

Grace was jolted from her sleep suddenly. She looked around for whatever had woken her. Her head was on Reid's abdomen, he had removed his hand from her back to turn the page od the book he was reading.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you, Grace." he apologized.

Grace wrapped her arm tighter around him. "I'm alright." she said sleepily. "What time is it?"

Reid kissed the top of her head then looked at his watch. "It's quarter after twelve."

"Can't we just stay in bed all day?" Grace asked.

Reid smiled. "As much as I would love to, we can't."

Grace groaned and got out of bed.

* * *

Grace was shaking in anxiety as she entered Bennington. Reid squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Mom?" Reid said to a woman sitting in an armchair, reading a book.

"Spencer, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I uh... I just finished a case." he said, thankful that she remembered who he was. "Mom, this is Grace, my uh... my girlfriend."

Grace shook Diana's hand. "It's nice to finally meet you, Mrs. Reid." she said.

"Please, call me Diana." she said. "I thought Spencer was exaggerating when he told me how pretty you are. He may have an IQ of 187, but he doesn't know much about women, he tends to-"

"Mom, please." Reid said.

Grace laughed. "Well, he seems to be doing alright." she defended him.

They spent the rest of the afternoon chatting like any woman meeting her boyfriend's mother for the first time would. Instead of easing Reid's fears though, this only increased them. His girlfriend getting along so well with his schizophrenic mother probably wasn't a good thing.

"I like her." Grace said as they got into their cab that evening. "She's really great."

"She didn't scare you?" Reid asked.

Grace shook her head. "No." She wondered why he was so worried about what she thought of his mother until she finally realized it. "Spencer, I'm not schizophrenic." she said.

"I didn't say you were, but..."

"I know there's _something _wrong with me, Spencer," Grace interrupted. "But as long as I pretend like there isn't, well, there isn't."  
Reid put an arm around Grace's shoulders. "I know you're afraid of what might happen if you were diagnosed with a mental illness, but wouldn't you like to not be depressed?"

"We've been over this, Spencer," she reminded him. "Pills can't fix how I feel. Everyone is sad once in awhile, I just get sadder than most."

"I know, but that's dangerous, sweetheart." Reid said.

"But I've got you to protect me." Grace argued.

Reid sighed. "I can't always be there to save you, Grace. I'd love to save you every time you need me to, but what if I can't? What if you were to try to hurt yourself again and I couldn't be there?"

"Spencer, I..."

"No, Grace. I love you and I don't want anything to happen to you. Grace, I think you might be bipolar. Please, I want you to get some help."

Grace pulled away and rested her head on the window. "I don't want drugs." she said simply.

Reid moved closer to her. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and rested his head on her shoulder. "Grace, sweetheart, you don't have to take anti-depressants if you don't want to, but maybe therapy would help."

"How will telling my life story to some stranger help me?" Grace asked. "They don't care, Spencer."

"Please," Reid paused to kiss her bare shoulder tenderly. "For me?"

Grace put a hand on his cheek, but still did not look at him. "Alright." she sighed. "For you."

* * *

"Grace Ashton?" the psychologist called, entering the waiting room.

"Hey." Grace said, putting her book back in her bag and standing up.

The doctor outstretched his hand and Grace shook it.

"I'm Doctor Browning." he introduced himself.

Grace followed him down the hallway and into his office. She took a seat in an old, brown leather couch.

"So," Dr. Browning said, sitting down in a chair that matched the couch. "What brings you here, Grace."

"D-don't call me that." Grace stuttered. Since starting at the BAU, she did not like people to call her by her first name if they did not know her. It was too close, too personal, too real. She was Agent Ash. Tough, take no shit from anyone, Ash.

"Alright, Miss Ashton,"

Grace shook her head, "No, not that either." _Miss_ was too feminine, too weak. This guy wouldn't break her. "Just call me Ash."

"Alright, Ash, why have you decided to come to therapy?" Dr. Browning asked.

Grace shrugged, staring at the wall beside the doctor, avoiding eye contact. "My boyfriend wanted me to come. He's worried I might hurt myself."

"And why would he think you might hurt yourself?"

Grace sighed. "I tend to feel things more... intensely than others."

"And why do you think you feel things more 'intensely' than others?" Dr Browning asked, scribbling something in his notebook.

"Isn't that why I'm here?" Grace asked, looking him in the eye now. "There's something wrong with me that needs _fixed_? I need _reprogrammed_?"

"Do you think there's something wrong with you?"

"No," Grace answered quickly. "I feel the way I feel. There's nothing wrong with that, right?"

Dr. Browning was silent.

"OK, maybe there is something wrong with me, but aren't you supposed to tell me that?" Grace mused.

The doctor was silent again.

"OK man, I'm not pay you a hundred and fifty dollars a session to get the silent treatment."

"I know you're smart enough to know that the patient is supposed to do the talking in therapy." Dr. Browning said.

Grace sighed. She did not want to be here, she just wanted to please Spencer. She wanted a quick diagnosis to shut him up and cease his worries. Clearly that was not what Dr. Browning had in mind.

"What is it you do for a living, Ash?" he asked.

"I work for the FBI." Grace answered. "I'm a profiler for the behaviour analysis unit. I uh... I catch serial killers by creating a psychological profile from the evidence."

Dr. Browning nodded. "So you see death every day."

Grace nodded. "Pretty much."

"Your boyfriend made this appointment for you, correct?"

Grace nodded again.

"And he claims that you have suicidal tendencies."

"Yep." Grace said as if this statement was no big deal.

"Do people in your line of work resort to suicide often?"

Grace gave him a confused look. "Not that I know of. It's a tough job, but I think it makes us appreciate life a little more, not hate it."

"Then why do you have suicidal thoughts?" Dr. Browning asked.

"I don't have suicidal thoughts at the moment." Grace corrected him. "Sometimes, when things happen, I get depressed, really depressed and I start to think that maybe everyone would be better off without me, or like there's no hope for me."

"What kind of things make you feel depressed?"

"I... I don't know." Grace said. "Sometimes someone will just say something or I'll see something or something will... It's memories. It's memories that make me depressed."

"Memories of what?" Dr. Browning asked.

"Things." Grace said, not really wanting to talk about it. "Bad things. I don't see why it matters. I haven't had any of these thoughts since Spencer came into my life."

"Hmm... Tell me about Spencer."

"He's uh... he's a genius. He has three PhDs, an IQ of 187 and an eidetic memory. We work together at the FBI. He's uh... he's really awkward, but I think it's cute. He moved in with me a few weeks ago."

Dr. Browning nodded and scribbled something on his notepad. "So what is it about him that stopped your suicidal thoughts?"

Grace bit her lip. "He found me with a gun to my head one night. He stopped me. He told me that he cared about me, and he actually meant it. I don't think anyone's ever said that to me before him. I mean, I've got friends and family who would probably be sad if I died, but it's not like I could go to them with my problems and cry on their shoulder. Spencer's the only guy who hasn't hurt me. He's everything I've ever wanted in a man."

Dr. Browning was writing furiously in his notebook now. Grace knew he was going to tell her that her relationship with Spencer was unhealthy. The way she described it sounded like worship or desperation.

"Have you ever heard of the concept of transference?" Dr. Browning asked.

"Yes, I have." Grace replied. "Spencer tries to tell me that that's why I love him. I don't believe him, I believe that there's someone in this world for everyone, someone we're meant to be with."

"Let me guess, you started to believe this when you met Spencer?"

Grace nodded. "As a matter of fact, I did and I'm not going to sit here and listen to you tell me that I'm wrong. If I'm wrong, I'd like to find that out for myself."

Dr. Browning seemed to be taken aback by Grace's reaction. "Well, uh... I guess we'll end there for today. Please book your next appointment with the receptionist on your way out. For our next session, I'd like to discuss those memories you mentioned earlier."

* * *

"Hey sweetheart." Reid greeted Grace at the door of their apartment. He kissed her gently on the lips. "How did it go?"

"Let's not talk about it." Grace said, kissing Reid back.

He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"How 'bout we go to bed?" Grace suggested, running her fingers through Reid's messy brown hair. "We have a long drive tomorrow, are you all packed?"

Reid nodded and kissed her. He carried her into the bedroom and sat on the bed, still holding her, still kissing her.

"Spencer, please, let me breathe!" Grace giggled, breaking away from his lips.

Reid kissed her neck and continued to her shoulder then down her arm.

"Spencer, we have a sixteen hour drive tomorrow! We have to get to sleep."

"No." Reid protested.

"What's with you tonight?" Grace laughed.

Reid shrugged. "You." he grinned. "I love you."

"I love you too, Spencer. Now get to sleep."

* * *

**A/N: OK, pretty pointless chapter, I know, but I needed something to fill the gap before their vacation. Please don't forget to review! Next chapter will be up shortly.**


	27. Chapter 27

_Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds._

_Warning: Fluff and smut. Not really graphic, but I should warn you all anyway._

* * *

A tear slid down Grace's cheek as she stood watching Macy and Ty kiss for the first time as a married couple. Had you asked her the day Macy was diagnosed with Turner's, the disease that would leave her sterile and looking like a child for the rest of her terribly unhealthy life if Grace thought her little sister would ever find true love, Grace would have said no. Today she was proven wrong. Tyler Montcalm loved Macy for who she was, a smart, funny, beautiful girl. He was willing to be wrongfully accused of paedophilia for the rest of his life just to be with the woman he loved. It was beautiful.

She looked at Reid. He was sitting in a pew beside Charlotte and Dan. They exchanged a look and Grace smiled. Today she would allow herself to fantasize about her wedding day, like every girl is supposed to, but just for today.

She would wear the dress she had tried on in New York while shopping with Macy. The guest list would be short, a few of her closest friends, Charlotte and Dan, Macy and Ty, and the members of the BAU of course. She would refuse to have the ceremony in the same church her parents had been married in like Macy had done, she figured it was bad luck. Grace stopped herself from getting too carried away. If she continued to think like this she would be horribly disappointed when it never happened.

"So, why aren't we going to the reception?" Reid asked as they got into Grace's car rather stealthily after Macy and Ty had rode off in their white limousine.

"Because my mother will be there." Grace explained. "Did you miss her? She was the sour looking old bitch in the front row. I wonder if she knew that if you frown during your botox injections that your face will get stuck that way..."

"Grace, I know what your mother did to you was wrong, but what about Macy? It's her wedding day, she would want you there." Reid insisted.

Grace shook her head. "Macy understands, Spencer. I just want to get back to the cabin and have you finish that physics lesson."

Reid smiled. "Alright Grace."

* * *

The sun was setting over the lake as they turned off the main road and onto the dirt road named Ashton Lane. The cabin they would call home for the next two weeks was not a cabin at all really. It was a large white farm house, built by Grace's great-grandfather when he brought his family to Canada from England after the first World War. Grace had spent every summer of her life here, it was the only place in the world that held nothing but good memories for her. Learning how to swim, Thanksgiving dinners, Canada Day fireworks, her first beer.

Instead of going straight inside the house, Grace took Reid's hand and lead him down the beach, to the end of the dock.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Grace said, sitting down, dipping her feet in the warm water.

Reid nodded and sat down beside her.

Grace sighed. "I'd feel a whole lot better if I could come here after every case."

Reid put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. He thought she looked like one of her paintings; midnight blue dress, pearls and hair shining in the moonlight, deep green eyes reflecting the water.

"So, that physics lesson..." Reid reminded her.

Grace grinned. "I almost forgot. Where did we leave off?"

"Sound waves." he said.

Grace stood up and stepped out of her dress and took off her pearls. "What about real waves?" she laughed, jumping into the water, taking him with her.

Reid surfaced and coughed up the water he had swallowed. "Grace!" he exclaimed.

Grace let the waves push her into him. "Spencer, save me! I'm drowning!" she joked, throwing her arms around his neck.

Reid held her as tight as he could. "No, no way." he said. "I'll never let that happen." He kissed her longingly, causing her heart to skip a beat – or several.

"Spencer," Grace gasped. "Spencer, I love you."

He kissed her deeply again. "I love you too, Grace."

He stopped for a moment to take in her beauty and wonder how such an amazing girl could end up with a guy like him. It was one of the few questions he had no answer to. He figured her should just enjoy this while it lasted.

"Spencer?" Grace said.

"Yeah?"

"I'm cold."

He could feel her body shaking. He knew that contrary to popular belief, a person could still catch hypothermia in the summer. If the body could not produce enough heat and if alcohol was involved (Grace had had quite a bit of wine throughout the day), hypothermia was a possibility.

"Alright, let's go warm up." he said.

They swam ashore and ran hand in hand up the beach toward the house. They tore their wet clothes off at the door. Reid chased Grace up the stairs to the bedroom where they changed into dry clothes. He took a blanket off the bed and wrapped it around Grace.

"What's this for?" she asked.

"You'll see." Reid grinned. "Follow me."

Grace held the blanket around her shoulders and followed him outside to the fire pit. She stood back and stared and he piled some logs and lit a match.

"Spencer, that will never light." she said. "The wood's wet."

He blew out the match then the pile of wood burst into flames.

"H-how did you do that?" Grace said in amazement.

Reid smiled. "A good magician never tells his secrets." he said, sitting in one of the many lawn chairs surrounding the fire pit.

Grace draped her blanket around Reid and curled up in his lap. He held her as close as possible and kissed her cheek. She kissed his collarbone then rested her head there while she played with his hair.

"You're so gorgeous." Grace sighed.

Reid blushed. "No, I-"

"Shut it!" Grace laughed, pressing her index finger against his lips.

When she was sure he would not try to protest again, she removed her finger from his lips and kissed him.

"Seriously," Grace said when she was finished. "Stop doubting yourself, you're amazing."

"Fine," Reid sighed, giving her a peck on the lips. "But you have to stop doubting yourself too, beautiful girl."

Grace blushed this time. "You know, I used to think that love was just two people who saw in eachother what they wanted to see in themselves and worshipped eachother for it."

"What do you think now?" Reid asked.

Grace smiled. "I don't think when I'm with you. Most of my time is spent trying to remember to breathe."

Reid laughed. There was no way someone could forget to breathe, unless they had a severe anxiety disorder, but Grace was quite comfortable around him now.

"Hey Spencer?"

"Yeah, sweetheart?" he replied.

"I appreciate the fire, it's really romantic and everything, but I know something else that would warm us up a whole lot more." Grace suggested, hoping that maybe this time he would finally not decline the offer.

He looked her dead in the eye. "Are... are you sure, Grace?" he asked.

Grace nodded. "One hundred percent, totally and completely sure, Spencer."

Reid kissed her forehead. "Alright." he agreed, picking her up and carrying her back into the house.

He set her down at the bottom of the stairs and told her to go to the bedroom and wait for him. He sighed and paced nervously at the foot of the stairs. He was scared, scared because he didn't know what to do, scared he might hurt her, scared she would laugh at him.

Reid went to the kitchen and picked up the receiver of the phone. He took a deep breath and dialled Morgan's number. _Pick up, please pick up_, he thought.

"Hello?" Morgan answered.

"Morgan, I need your help."

"Whoa, this better be important, kid, you're interrupting my date." Morgan said, slightly annoyed.

"It's Grace." Reid said. "She... she wants to... you know..."

"No, I don't know." Morgan teased. "What does she want to do?"

"She wants to have sex."

"And that's a problem _why_?"

"I... I don't know what I'm doing." Reid admitted.

"Why?" Morgan asked, confused. "It's not like you've never had sex before."

"I know, but I've never been the one in control."

"Listen man," Morgan said. "I don't just 'vibe it' behind the wheel, if you know what I mean. Just go with the flow, do whatever feels right."

"Thank you, Morgan." Reid sighed in relief.

"No problem." he said. "Good luck, Lover Boy."

Reid hung up the phone and slowly made his way up the stairs. He found Grace sitting naked on the bed, her knees drawn up, under her chin, shaking. Her shaking intensified when she saw him and she bit her lip.

"Grace, are you sure this is what you want?" Reid asked, sitting on the bed.

She nodded.

"Alright. Um... sweetheart, uh... protection?"

"I-in the drawer." Grace stuttered, pointing to the nightstand.

Reid opened the drawer and took a condom from the box. "This expires next month." he said.

"Then I guess we better hurry up and use them all." Grace laughed.

Reid smiled and took his shirt off. He kissed both of Grace's kneecaps and she relaxed and wrapped her legs around him. He got on top of her and began to kiss her. She unbuttoned his pants and slid them off of him. He ripped open the condom wrapper and she helped him put it on.

"Just tell me if you want to stop, OK sweetheart?" he said.

Grace nodded.

"And let me know if I'm hurting you, alright?"

Grace nodded again, a tear falling from her eye.

Reid kissed it as it rolled down her cheek. "Please don't cry, Grace. I love you."

"I love you too, Spencer." she whimpered as he entered her.

* * *

"H-how was it for you?" Reid stuttered.

"Amazing." Grace said, snuggling into his bare chest. "You're the best, Spencer."

"Compared to who?" he laughed.

"I don't care, you're still the best." Grace assured him. "Wanna go again?" she yawned.

Reid smiled. "I would love to, but I don't think you'll be able to stay awake."

"You wore me out." Grace said drowsily.

He kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer. "Goodnight, sweet girl."

* * *

The sound of her cell phone ringing woke Grace the next morning. She fought her way out of Reid's protective grip and picked the phone up off the nightstand. It was Garcia calling.

"Hey, Pen," she greeted her friend. "What's up?"

"Well, _you_ should be up, gorgeous, it's 10:30 there." Garcia said.

"I'm on vacation, Pen." Grace groaned. "And believe me, if you had the night I had, you wouldn't be out of bed either."

"As much as I would love to hear about Boy Wonder's adventures in the land of women, it's gonna have to wait." Garcia said. "I have news. Good news and bad news, which do you want first?"

* * *

**A/N: Yay! Finally! My apologies if that made anyone squirm or if you thought it wasn't enough. I'm not exactly comfortable writing those kinds of things, so that's probably as far as I'll go in terms of writing about Grace and Reid's sex life. Oh, and sorry for the cliffhanger, they're just so hard to resist.**

**Oh, I had the craziest dream last night that some guy hacked me and ruined the story, killed my best friend, my mother and my English teacher then he blackmailed me and I couldn't tell anyone because I was afraid people would make fun of me for writing this story. Crazy.**

**Anyway, I have to go call my best friend and make sure she's still alive then I've got some scholarship applications to finish. I'd love to have some reviews to read when I'm done though *wink, wink, nudge, nudge***


	28. Chapter 28

_Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds._

* * *

"Bad news first." Grace said to Garcia, quietly as to not wake Reid who was sound asleep beside her.

"Alright," Garcia said on the other end of the line. "Strauss is onto you guys. Taking vacations on the same dates may have been what tipped her off, but you guys are now listed at the same address and we also have to keep records of where you guys are while on vacation so we can reach you if we need you and she had someone look you up, Kevin actually, that's how I found out."

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck!" Grace panicked.

"Wait, wait, wait! Here comes the good news!" Garcia said. "The extended BAU family is en route to your cabin right now to help save you two love birds."

"You're coming _here_?" Grace asked, not sure how this was good news. "Why? And what do you mean by 'extended' BAU family, anyway?"

"Well, my fine furry friend, you are having a Fourth of July party." Garcia explained. "Reid went up with you earlier than the rest of us because he finished all his work."

Grace laughed at the idea of Reid being the first member of the BAU to finish his paperwork.

"Alright, so who exactly is coming?" she asked.

"Me, Kevin, Morgan, Clooney, Prentiss, Rossi, JJ, Will, Henry, Hotch, and Jack." Garcia replied.

"You realize that I only have three more bedrooms and a limited supply of food and beer here, right?"

"Pffft, don't worry about it!" Garcia assured her. "We're bringing tents and groceries."

Grace sighed. "This was supposed to be a _romantic_ vacation for me and Spencer. No BAU, no cases, no crazy friends, no kids and no dogs."

"Well, it was this or lose your job. We'll be there tomorrow morning."

"Alright." Grace sighed in defeat. "See you then."

Grace hung up the phone and rolled over to face Reid.

"Spencer, baby, wake up." she said, kissing him.

He murmured something unintelligible.

"Spencer, wake up!" Grace urged him.

"Mmm... no..." he groaned.

"Please?" Grace pouted. "I'll make you coffee."

Reid's eyes shot open. "Coffee?"

Grace laughed. "Yes, coffee, but only if you get up and help me get the house ready."

"Ready for what?" Reid asked.

"Apparently the BAU's coming up for the weekend." Grace said, getting out of bed and putting on a bathrobe she got from the closet.

Grace walked down the hallway toward the bathroom. As she got closer, the sound of running water became louder. Someone was in the shower. Grace did a quick recall of everyone who had a key to the house. As far as she could recall, it was only herself and Macy. She'd never even thought of locking the door that night. Why would she? The cabin was safe, she'd never felt threatened there before. She ran back to the bedroom.

"Spencer, get your gun." she whimpered. "There's someone in the house."

"What?" he asked, jumping out of bed.

"There's someone in the shower." Grace cried.

Reid put on the pants he had tossed on the floor that night and grabbed his gun off of the nightstand. "Stay here." he ordered Grace.

Grace nodded and watched him walk slowly down the hall with his gun raised. She grabbed hers from her drawer and sat on the bed, waiting. She saw Reid open the bathroom door then she heard a familiar scream.

"WHAT THE FUCK, MAN?" someone screamed.

_Ainsley_.

Grace put her gun away and ran to the bathroom. She pushed her way past Reid who still had his gun raised and pointed at Ainsley.

"Ainsley, what are you doing here?" Grace asked.

"What is Dr. Reid doing in your cabin, shirtless and pointing a gun at me, Grace?" Ainsley shouted, covering herself with the shower curtain.

"Spencer, put your gun down." Grace said. "It's just Ainsley, she was my roommate in university."

Reid did as he was told.

"So... you two are together?" Ainsley asked in disbelief.

Grace nodded, then she noticed that Ainsley was bleeding from her forehead.

"Ainsley, what happened?" she asked.

Ainsley began to cry. Grace handed her a towel. Ainsley wrapped it around herself and sat down on the edge of the bathtub.

"He hit me, Grace." she sobbed. "Mark hit me. I... I..."

"It's alright, Ains." Grace assured her friend.

Ainsley took a deep breath and continued. "I told him I was pregnant and he hit me. He wanted me to... to get rid of it, so I left."

"It's gonna be alright, Ains." Grace said. "You can stay here for the weekend, we've got friends coming over anyway. I think I can get you set up in my old place, alright?"

Ainsley nodded.

"You can go rest in one of the guest rooms." Grace told her. "You look like you could use some sleep."

Ainsley nodded and left the bathroom. Grace sighed and looked up at Reid.

"So much for our vacation." she said.

Reid forced a smile, but Grace could tell he was discouraged by the recent interruptions in their otherwise perfect getaway.

"It's alright, everyone will be gone by Monday and it'll be just us." he said.

"I guess..." Grace said, removing her robe and stepping into the shower.

She turned the water back on and washed away the blood that Ainsley had dripped onto the white porcelain.

"Where are you going?" she asked as Reid started to leave the room.

"I'm going to get some coffee, I'll have a shower when you're done." he replied.

Grace shook her head. "No way. Get in here."

* * *

"So why has the entire BAU decided to come visit us?" Reid asked, putting on a dark blue polo shirt.

"Oh, yeah... that." Grace said, her fears of losing her job returning. "Strauss knows about us."

Reid's eyes widened.

"Garcia thinks the old bitch is gonna come down on us, so they're coming up here with the excuse that I'm having a party and you came up early." Grace said, slipping into a white sundress.

"You think she'll buy it?" Reid asked.

Grace shrugged. "It's worth a shot, isn't it?"

"I guess so."

The couple went downstairs to the kitchen and Reid started a pot of coffee. Grace sat at the table and began to write a to-do list. She had to get the guest rooms ready, buy groceries, buy booze, buy fireworks, set up the outside sound system, clean the house, get Ainsley sorted out...

Grace sighed. "I want my vacation back." she complained.

Reid kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry, Grace. I promise I'll make it up to you."

"You don't have to do that, Spencer. It's not your fault."

He grinned. "I know, but I'd like to make it up to you."

Grace smiled, finally understanding what he meant. She had completely missed it the first time.

"So, I have to go into town today." she said. "I need to pick up some things and help Ainsley out."

"Do you want me to go with you?" Reid asked.

"Actually, I don't think it's a good idea." Grace said hesitantly.

Reid looked hurt.

"It's just, Ainsley probably needs some girl time right now." Grace explained. "You could clean this place up a bit before everyone gets here."

Reid nodded. Grace kissed him then ran upstairs to get Ainsley.

* * *

"So, you're keeping it?" Grace asked Ainsley as they drove down the empty country road to town.

"Yeah." Ainsley replied.

"Can you promise me that you won't go back to Mark?" Grace asked. "Because you know he'll try to get you back. He'll apologize, but he won't mean a word of it. You're smart enough to know that."

Ainsley nodded. "I know. Every day at work I see what would happen to me, to my baby if I went back to him."

Ainsley was a social worker. She loved her job, she loved helping kids and their families. Ainsley came from a good, happy family. She was an intelligent, happy, independent woman, Grace never pictured her in an abusive relationship.

"He was great, up until this." Ainsley said, as if she had read Grace's mind. "We were living together, we were happy. I guess maybe we should have told eachother our views on having children before it got this serious, eh? Oh well, fuck him, life goes on. We're better off without him."

Grace wondered what Reid's reaction would be in the same situation. He would never hit her or tell her to "get rid of it", he wasn't evil. She had seen him with Violet and Henry and Jack, he was nervous around children, but he was actually quite good with them. She wondered if Ainsley had ever thought those things about Mark before she had gotten pregnant. She wondered if, in the same situation who she would choose, Spencer or their child.

"Uh... earth to Grace! Hello!" Ainsley called her back to reality.

"Sorry, what?"

"I asked you about your friends, the one's that are coming up tomorrow." Ainsley repeated, slightly annoyed.

"Oh, well, they're my co-workers." Grace explained. "Garcia, Morgan, JJ, Prentiss, Rossi and Hotch."

"What are they doing coming to the cabin?" Ainsley asked. "They're just your co-workers."

"No, they're like... they're like my family." Grace said. "They're the only people I know and I spend pretty much every waking minute with them."

Ainsley smiled. "I think I might go postal if I spent that much time with my co-workers." She gave Grace a puzzled look. "Why aren't you laughing?"

Grace was just as confused as her friend. Normally, she would have found this hilarious. Something must have changed within her without her even realizing. The job had finally gotten to her, murder and death would never be funny again.

"I guess I just see too much death." Grace said weakly.

They spent the rest of the scenic drive in silence.

* * *

Reid went straight to work after Grace and Ainsley left the cabin that morning. He had managed to clean everything Grace had asked him to in about two hours. With nothing better to do, Reid poured himself his fifth cup of coffee and went to the bookshelf to find something worth reading. There wasn't much on the shelf; London, Thoreau, Tolstoy, Stephen King (pre-accident, of course). Nicholas Sparks, stuff he already guessed that Grace would read out here. As he scanned further down the shelf, he discovered a large, un-labelled, leather-bound book. Upon closer inspection, Reid realized that it wasn't a book at all, it was a photo album.

Reid took a seat on the couch, set the album on the coffee table and opened it. The pictures at the beginning were black and white, torn at the edges. The album was like a complete chronological history of the Ashton family since they had came from England. He skipped forawrd several pages to find the pictures of Grace. It certainly did not take a profiler to see the the story the photos told. Her life had started out normal, she was a happy kid from an average looking home in an average looking neighbourhood. At about age eight, she no longer looked happy, she looked like some of the severely traumatized children from their cases. There were no more photos for what looked to be about four years. When Grace re-appeared, she looked even sadder, dressed entirely in black and distancing herself from the other people in the photos. She got skinnier and appeared to be sick as the pictures continued. She was emaciated and strung out. Even in the last photos, pictures of her high school graduation, she looked like an empty shell of a human being.

Reid jumped and slammed the photo album shut when he heard the cabin door open.

"Spencer!" Grace exclaimed, setting her grocery bags on the floor and running into his arms.

He grinned and pulled her in. "Hey, sweetheart."

"I missed you." Grace said, nuzzling into Reid's chest.

He kissed the top of her head. "You weren't gone that long." he laughed.

Grace shrugged. She knew it was rather ludicrous for her to miss Reid after only a few hours apart, but while she was in town with Ainsley, she felt a strange pain in her chest. It felt like something was physically pulling her back to the cabin, back to Reid.

"Uh... I really hate to interrupt you two love birds," Ainsley interjected, "But there are groceries to bring in and I can't do any heavy lifting, I'm pregnant."

Grace and Reid reluctantly separated. Ainsley flopped down on the couch and turned on the television.

"First of all, a five pound bag of groceries doesn't qualify as heavy lifting." Grace said to her friend. "Secondly, you're like what, six weeks along? You're just lazy."

"You forgot that there's a Friends marathon on today." Ainsley added.

Grace rolled her eyes and dragged Reid outside.

* * *

The hot sunshine coming through the bedroom window woke Grace the next morning. She groaned and rolled over in Reid's arms.

"It's about time you woke up." Reid grinned.

"I'm not awake," Grace mumbled. "I'm just taking a break from sleeping."

Reid kissed her tenderly on the lips.

"Mmmm... maybe I'll extend my break." Grace said playfully. "Wanna go swimming?"

"This early?" Reid asked.

Grace nodded and hopped out of bed. She danced to the closet and came out a few moments later wearing a green string bikini. Reid blushed and looked all over the room, except at Grace.

"Spencer, you've seen me in less." Grace teased.

She approached Reid who was now sitting on the edge of the bed in his underwear. She sat on his lap and wrapped her legs around him. Reid rested his hands on the small of her back. Grace entwined her fingers in his hair and pressed her lips against his. Reid leaned back onto the bed, pulling Grace with him.

"Oh, so you think you can just have me whenever you want, huh?" Grace teased. "You've got a lot to learn, darling."

"Actually-"

Grace put a finger to his lips. "Your IQ means _nothing_ in bed." she said. "Now come on, we're going swimming. You have to earn the right to get into my pants."

Reid heard Morgan make the sound of a whip cracking inside his head. "You're not even wearing pants." he said.

"So half the work's already done for you." Grace said. "Come on Spencer, I want to go swimming!" she whined.

Reid sighed and stood up. "Where do you get your energy?"

Grace shrugged and tossed a pair of swim shorts at him. She hummed and danced around the room while Reid put the shorts on.

"You're insane." Reid laughed.

Grace grinned. "But that's why you love me, right?"

Reid sighed and let her drag him outside, onto the dock. Grace jumped into the lake and pulled Reid in with her. Treading water, they kissed passionately.

"I love you, crazy girl." Reid said, gasping for air.

"I love you too, my sweet genius." Grace said.

She then smiled a twisted, evil smile.

"Grace, sweetheart," Reid said nervously. "Wh-what are you doing?"

Instead of answering, Grace dove underwater and took off Reid's shorts.

"Grace!" he exclaimed as she resurfaced.

Grace grinned and threw Reid's short onto the dock. He began to swim away to go get them, but Grace grabbed him and pulled him into a kiss. As they were getting lost in eachother, a car pulled into the yard. Then another and another.

"Looks like we have company." Grace said.

Reid's face turned red and he tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Sorry it took so long, exam and scholarship stress. Good news though, I managed to exempt the only exam I actually have to study for, so expect lots of updates in my time off next week!**

**Also, I apologize if anyone found this chapter dreadfully boring. I have a lot of trouble trying to fill the gaps between the exciting parts. If anyone has any tips on how to improve on this, they would be greatly appreciated *wink wink, nudge nudge***

**Anyway, stay tuned! There's some pretty sweet stuff coming up soon that you won't want to miss. Fighting the urge to tell you all really sucks. I have absolutely no patience. **

**Don't forget to review (pretty please with a cherry on top?)**


	29. Chapter 29

_Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Criminal Minds._

* * *

"Bonjour, mes amis!" Grace called to her co-workers, pulling herself out of the water and onto the dock. "Happy Canada Day!" she added, hugging her abdomen to cover the large scars on her stomach.

"Gracie!" Garcia squealed, running down the beach to her friend. "You have things to fill me in on, spare no details!" she said, crushing Grace in a hug.

"Later, there are virgin ears present." she whispered, nodding toward Henry and Jack.

Grace hugged Morgan next then stooped down to pet Clooney.

"Hey kid," Morgan called to Reid who was still in the water. "I get lovin' from Blondie, but not Pretty Boy? That's cold, man."

Reid opened his mouth to speak, but no words would come out. Morgan looked down and saw Reid's shorts on the dock. He laughed, picked them up and threw them to Reid.

"Hey! Way to ruin my fun, Derek!" Grace pouted.

"Bros before hos, Blondie." Morgan laughed.

Grace pushed him into the lake and everyone laughed. Reid pulled himself onto the dock and walked over to the group with his head hung in shame and embarrassment.

"Hey, laugh all you want," Morgan said, hauling his wet, muscly body out of the water. "But at least I don't look like a drowned rat."

Reid looked even sadder. He reached for Grace's hand timidly, but she brushed him off and lead her friends to the house.

"Don't worry, keep your shoes on." she ordered and they all obeyed.

"Wow, when you said _cabin_, I didn't expect this." Prentiss said.

Grace laughed. "Don't bother with the flattery, Em. It's not that great."

Just then, Ainsley wandered down the stairs sleepily, still in her pyjamas.

"Hello, BAU." she yawned.

"Uh... guys this is my friend, Ainsley." Grace introduced. "Ainsley, this is Penelope, Kevin, Derek, Dave, JJ, Will, Henry, Jack and Hotch."

"Nice to meet you all." Ainsley said. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I need me some coffee."

"Ains, really?" Grace said disapprovingly.

"Decaf." Ainsley said. "Calm down, woman."

Grace rolled her eyes and Ainsley disappeared into the kitchen. Grace continued the tour through the house, assigning rooms along the way. Prentiss would be sharing a room with Ainsley and JJ and Will had the room across the hall from them. Grace offered the next room to Hotch and Jack, but Jack had already decided that he wanted to go camping. Grace gave the room to Rossi, knowing that a man who wears Italian leather shoes would not want to sleep outside. Being the only people in the world Grace would trust around electronics, Garcia and Kevin got the pull-out couch in the basement where Grace had thousands of dollars of recording equipment stored. Morgan would have to set up a tent outside.

Grace told everyone to make themselves at home, put on a pair of shorts and a tank top over her bikini, then fired up the barbeque. She didn't even notice that Reid had went to their bedroom, retreating from everyone else. On a whim, Grace decided to invite Charlotte and Dan over as well. Might as well have some actual Canadians come celebrate Canada day with them.

"Burgers are ready!" she called to her friends.

Once everyone was served, she finally realized that Reid. Assuming he was in the house, lost in some book, she went to go find him.

"Hey, Spencer," Grace said, opening the bedroom door. "What are you doing in here?"

Reid was laying on the bed, hands under his head, staring at the ceiling. He ignored Grace.

"Spencer, what's wrong?" she asked, laying on the bed beside him.

He continued to ignore her. She put a hand on his chest, but he turned away from her.

"Spencer, what did I do?" Grace asked, tears welling in her eyes.

"You embarrassed me, Grace." Reid said.

"I'm sorry, Spencer." she cried. "That wasn't my intention."

He ignored her again.

"Spencer, please! You're being childish." Grace sobbed.

Reid felt an overwhelming pain in his chest. He had made her cry. She was right, he was being childish and he had hurt her.

"Grace, sweetheart," he said apologetically, rolling over. "I'm sorry."

Grace buried her face in his shoulder and cried. Reid rubbed her back soothingly. He knew she was overreacting, losing control of her emotions like she always did. Reid knew that he shouldn't encourage it if he wanted her to get better, but he couldn't stand to see her hurt like this. He held her and comforted her until she stopped crying.

"Are you feeling better now, sweetheart?" Reid asked her,

Grace nodded, wiping a lingering tear from her green eyes.

Reid sighed. Now that Grace was in a sad, quiet mood, she would be for the rest of the day, maybe even longer. Grace usually tried her hardest not to let the other members of the BAU see her mental illness directly like this, but now there would be no way around it.

"Grace, please smile." Reid said desperately.

She tried to force a smile, but it hurt her. Reid felt like he had failed her. He kissed her forehead, wrapped an arm around her waist and lead her outside.

"Hey, where have you two been?" Morgan teased.

Grace seemed to not have heard him and Reid bit his lip. Reid sat in one of the lawn chairs and pulled Grace onto his lap. She sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder, staring blankly at the water in front of them.

Reid halfheartedly joined the amiable conversation, but his mind was still on Grace. She was catatonic, a symptom of schizophrenia. Maybe she wasn't bipolar after all. Maybe she needed medicated even more than Reid had thought.

A car pulled into the yard and Grace's bubbly personality resurfaced. She hopped up and sprinted to the car. Violet got out of the backseat and Grace picked her up in a hug.

"I missed you so much, Vi." she said.

"I missed you too Aunt Gracie." the little girl said.

Reid put a hand on Grace's hip, glad to see her smiling again.

"Hey there, Doc." Charlotte greeted him. "I hope you've been taking good care of my little cousin."

"I'm trying." he said.

"Hey Vi, you wanna go meet my friends while I start supper?" Grace asked.

Violet shook her head. "I want to cook with you!"

Grace laughed. "I would love your help, sweetie, but you can't, you're allergic to shellfish."

Grace set Violet down and Charlotte and Dan took her down to the beach.

Reid pulled Grace closer to him and kissed her.

"I'm glad you're back." he said.

"What are you talking about, Spencer?" Grace asked in confusion. "I never left."

Reid wanted to say something, but stopped himself. There was no point in fighting with her. She would see the psychologist when they got home and this could get sorted out.

"Do you want some help with supper?" he offered.

Grace laughed. "Ever scale a fish?" she asked.

The look on Reid's face said everything.

"I take that as a 'no'." Grace laughed.

* * *

Several hours and a load of blood, sweat and tears later, Grace served dinner.

"Wow, Grace," Prentiss said. "This is just... wow."

"Yeah," JJ agreed, taking a bite of lobster. "This is delicious."

Grace blushed, but she was proud of the Canadian feast she had prepared.

"I don't mean to sound rude, Ash," Rossi said. "But what is _that_?" He pointed to a gooey brown, white and yellow mixture that was sitting in a deep pan on the table in front of him.

"_That_ is only the most delicious food in the whole entire world." Grace laughed, sitting down next to Reid. "It's poutine. Fries, cheese curds, and gravy."

Morgan's face twisted with disgust. "You hosers eat some strange stuff, Blondie."

Grace laughed it off and took a bite of salmon.

"This is so good, I can see why Boy Wonder's gotten fat." Garcia teased.

"I have not!" Reid defended himself.

Grace laughed. "You totally have, your clothes actually fit you now."

Reid looked hurt.

"I'm sorry, darling. You're still gorgeous." she said, kissing his cheek.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light. Grace looked for the source and saw that Garcia was holding a camera.

"Pen, delete it now!" Grace threatened.

"Oh, but you guys look so cute!" Garcia protested. "Don't they, Kevin?"

"Oh! Uh... yeah, sure." he agreed.

Grace noticed Morgan roll his eyes.

"Please, Pen." she begged.

"Come on, Gracie, you need some pictures of you two!" Garcia argued.

Grace sighed. "Fine."

The conversation between the BAU family and Grace's family and friend continued until the sun went down.

Grace insisted on setting off the fireworks she had bought, but Dan refused to let her. He and Dave went to the end of the dock and set off the fireworks.

Grace fell asleep on the beach, beer in hand and head in Reid's lap. He let her sleep for awhile longer after everyone else had turned in for the night. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful, as if nothing was wrong inside of her mind. She shivered in her sleep and Reid woke her up and helped her inside.

* * *

"You know, she really loves Violet." Charlotte said to Reid, sitting down next to him. They sat on the deck of the cabin, sipping coffee and watching Grace and Violet walk along the beach. Grace was trying to teach her how to skip stones. "She was in the worst stage of her addiction when Violet was born." Charlotte continued. "I was hesitant to even let her hold her. I mean, I was young once too and I had my vices, but Grace was... she was gone. The day I had Vi, Grace showed up at the hospital, stone sober. She never really liked kids, but she loves Vi more than anything in the world. Well, except maybe you, Doc." Charlotte paused. She wondered if Reid was even listening to her. He was just watching Grace. "Did she ever tell you about the pressures our family put on her?"

Reid looked at Charlotte. "No, she didn't." he replied.

Charlotte took a deep breath and exhaled. "Grace and Macy are the youngest of the Ashton cousins." she said. "There's a ten year age gap between her and I and only my sister in between. When we were all getting married and having kids, Grace was still in high school and going through her own personal hell that everyone just ignored. They said it was a phase she'd grow out of, but you don't grow out of abuse."

Reid nodded, but he still was not looking in Charlotte's direction. He stared at Grace who was laughed on the beach, waiting for some sign of a breakdown. Waiting for the hurt to surface.

"Anyway," Charlotte continued. "Our grandmother, our aunt and our cousins were all pressuring her to get pregnant. She was fourteen when this started, right after Josh. She was just disgusted by their expectations. Her father was no better. He did nothing to stop the things they said at Christmas dinners. They told her she was a disgrace for not having a baby. He didn't stop them, but when they were alone, he made it quite clear to her that that wasn't what he wanted for her."

"So you and her father were the only people to support her?" he asked.

Charlotte shook her head. "Not exactly." she said. "Uncle Roger had other ideas for her. He wanted her to be an engineer like he was. If you haven't already noticed-"

"Grace is smart, but she's not smart in that sense. Words, art, wit, resourcefulness, those are her strong points, but numbers, facts and calculations aren't." Reid said. "She doesn't bother with those things unless they're useful to her in some way. She says she likes art and music and writing because she can't be wrong, it's all about your feelings and opinions and as long as you feel they're right and can justify them, you're right."

Charlotte nodded. "It's her father who made her that way. She was tired of never being able to do things right. Maybe if Roger and Vera had actually paid attention to their children, maybe Grace would have gotten the help she needed when it came to math and science early on, but that's the way it went. She tried so hard to be what he wanted, the masculine math whiz of a son that he'd hoped for, but it made her miserable and made the rest of our family hate her. Maybe if she'd just worn some pink clothes once in awhile and said 'When I'm out of school' instead of 'Never', they would have left her alone, maybe she never would have let her addiction go so far, but-"

"But she always does everything in extremes." Reid finished for Charlotte.

Charlotte forced a small smile. "I guess you've noticed that by now, eh?"

Reid nodded.

"When you say she does _everything_ in extremes, I hope you know that that includes love too." Charlotte said.

* * *

"You know you'll never get her by sitting and staring all day." Grace teased Morgan as she sat down beside him on the steps and handed him a beer.

"What are you talking about Blondie?" he asked, feigning ignorance.

Grace nodded towards Garcia and Kevin who were sitting at the end of the dock together.

"I may be blonde, but I'm not blind, Morgan." Grace said. "Seriously, why aren't you with her? I know you love her."

"Look how happy she is though." Morgan said. "I'd only hurt her if I tried anything now. Nah, I'm just waiting for Kevin Lynch to fuck up. Then I'll be there with a sexy, muscly shoulder for my Baby Girl to cry on."

* * *

Grace had just finished doing the breakfast dishes and stepped into the living room when she saw Rossi admiring her father's hunting trophies that lined the wall.

"Nice." Rossi said as Grace came to his side. "Ten pointer, impressive. Your father must have been quite the hunter."

Grace grinned. "That one was mine. My first actually."

"Even more impressive." Rossi said. "Is it typical for girls to hunt around here?"

Grace shrugged. "A few of the tomboys I went to school with did."

"But you weren't a tomboy." Rossi stated. It was not a question, it was a statement.

"Dad wanted a son," Grace said. "I did all I could to be the son he wanted, but I still had to play the role of wife and mother after the divorce."

"He never told you he was proud of you, did he?"

Grace shook her head.

"I think he would be now."

Grace shrugged. "You didn't know him."

"No, I didn't, but I know you." Rossi said. "And I think any man would be proud to have a daughter like you."

"Thanks Dave." Grace said, trying not to cry.

* * *

"Pen, I _really_ don't think putting seaweed in your hair is going to make it any shinier." Grace laughed.

Garcia took another clump of slimy, wet lake grass from the water and wrapped it around her hair. "No, I read something in _Vogue_ about how women pay thousands of dollars for this seaweed treatment thing that improves the proteins in your hair."

Grace rolled her eyes. "It's not even seaweed, Pen, this is a lake, not the sea!"

"Ewww! Eww! Get it off me!" Garcia screamed.

Grace laughed and splashed her. Garcia splashed her back and soon they were in an all out war.

"OK, OK! Truce! I surrender!" Grace cried.

"Awww... look at that!" Garcia pointed to the cabin where Reid was sitting in a chair on the deck, holding Henry.

"Oh my god, that _is_ cute." Grace said.

"Everyone thinks he's so awkward with kids," Garcia said. "But I think he'd make a great father."

"Uh huh..." Grace nodded, not really paying attention to her friend, she couldn't take her eyes off Spencer.

"So, you thinking of having baby Reids?"

"Wh-what?" the question had caught Grace off-guard. "No- I uh... I mean... no. No, not now. No."

* * *

"_Well my house is on fire, burnin' to the sky._" Grace sang, strumming her guitar on the beach, under the starlit sky. "_Well, I thought it would rain but the clouds passed by, and I feel like I'm comin' to the end of my way, I know God is my shield and he won't lead me astray, still I don't know what I'm gonna do._"

"I was alright til I fell in love with you." a voice behind her said.

Grace turned around to see Reid standing above her.

"Spencer, what are you... how did you..."

He blushed. "Bob Dylan is my mother's favourite. She used to make me memorize his songs. She thought he wrote them about our lives."

Grace put the guitar down and patted the sand next to her, inviting Reid to sit. He obliged and kissed her on the cheek.

"Have I told you that you're perfect?" Grace asked.

Reid blushed. "No, but I'm not. Hotch and Morgan fit the description of the ideal man better than I do."

"Fuck the ideal man, what's he ever done for anyone anyway?" Grace said. "You're perfect to me, Spencer. I love you."

Reid blushed again. "I love you too, Grace."

* * *

"Hey, get a load of that." JJ said. She was sitting at a patio table, sipping a beer with Grace, Prentiss and Garcia.

The other women all turned to look where JJ was pointing. Ainsley and Hotch were tossing a baseball with Jack. Hotch was actually smiling.

"Wow, I didn't think he knew how to smile anymore." Prentiss remarked.

"He's doing more than smiling." Garcia giggled.

The ladies of the BAU watched as Hotch appeared to be flirting with Ainsley.

"Whoa, that is weird." Grace said.

A beat-up, old Ford half-ton pulled into the yard and a tan, buff, dark-haired man got out and staggered drunkenly toward Ainsley.

"Oh fuck no!" Grace swore, getting up and running to the man she recognized to be Mark,

"Ainsley!" he slurred loudly. "Come back to me, Ains. I want to have this baby now."

"No, Mark! Get lost!" Ainsley cried.

"Come one, babe, give me another shot." he commanded, not pleaded, _commanded_.

"No, Mark! You hit me! I'm done with you!"

Mark was about to grab Ainsley, but Grace came between them.

"Get out of my way, bitch!" Mark spat, backhanding Grace across the face.

Hotch swooped in and punched Mark in the face. The drunk fell to the ground, but soon recovered and retreated to his truck and sped off.

"Are you alright, Ash?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Grace said, rubbing her cheek.

"Alright, you should go put some ice on that." Hotch advised her then turned around to comfort Ainsley.

* * *

"So, you two are pretty serious now, huh Spence?" JJ asked.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Reid answered, feeling slightly uncomfortable talking about his relationship with the woman he used to have a huge crush on.

"You know, I used to worry that you'd never find anyone who was right for you." JJ said.

"But not anymore?"

JJ shook her head. "No, not anymore."

Reid sighed. "Sometimes I let myself think that, but I know better. I know she'll realize I'm no good and then she'll be gone."

"Of all the things you know, Spence, _love_, the most natural thing in the _world_ would be the one thing you cannot understand." JJ said, rolling her eyes. "Don't doubt yourself, she certainly doesn't doubt you."

* * *

Grace stepped into the now silent cabin. The BAU was returning the Quantico, Charlotte, Dan and Violet had headed home and Ainsley was all moved into Grace's old house. Grace yawned, she was exhausted from the night before. The men had actually let her set off the fireworks for the 4th of July and her display had definitely blown theirs out of the water. She had waved goodbye with mixed emotions this morning. Sad because her friends were leaving, but happy that her and Spencer would finally have their time alone. She ascended the stairs two at a time, knowing that Spencer was in bed, waiting for her to return.

Reid groaned as Grace got into bed beside him.

"Well good morning, sunshine." Grace grinned.

"Ten more minutes." Reid begged.

Grace kissed him on the lips. "Please Spencer, wake up." she pouted, climbing on top of him. "I want you."

Reid opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow. "You should have told me sooner."

"Well, I said _good_ morning for a reason." Grace teased.

Reid reached into the nightstand drawer and took out a condom. "That's the last one, sweetheart." he said, worried.

"Oh shit."

"No, don't worry." Reid assured her. "I'll get more when I go to the post office today."

Grace kissed him and he carefully flipped her over onto her back. Reid kissed a trail from Grace's neck to her navel. She moaned in pleasure and dug her nails into his back as he entered her. Their thrusting fell into a fast, steady rhythm and Grace screamed his named over and over. Hearing the way Grace said his name, full of love and desire, Reid tried harder to top his last performance. He smiled to himself when the noises Grace made confirmed that he had succeeded.

"Oh, Grace, I love you." he moaned as he climaxed.

"I love you too, Spencer!" she screamed.

They both sighed and relaxed. Reid pulled out and a look of horror spread across his face.

"Spencer, what's wrong?" Grace asked, terrified of what his response might be.

"It... it broke." he stammered. "The condom broke."

Grace was overwhelmed with fear. Oh no, not this, not now. They'd only been together a few months, this couldn't be happening. Was she pregnant? Would he leave her? What was she going to do?

"I'll um... I'll get you some Plan B when I go to town, alright sweetheart?" Reid said, coming to the rescue with another one of his genius solutions.

Grace nodded, tears in her eyes.

"Shhh... don't cry, sweetheart." he soothed her. "I'll fix this, don't worry."

He kissed her tenderly on the lips then they fell asleep in eachother's arms.

When Grace woke up, Reid was gone, but the Plan B pills were sitting on the nightstand, waiting for her. She stood up, stretched and took the pills to the bathroom.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope you all enjoyed the little snapshots, I really wanted to get the other characters involved. **

**So, the new episode tonight had me in tears. I'll shut my mouth now so I don't spoil anything for you.**

**So, please review and I'll try to have the next one up as soon as possible.**

**Oh yeah, my friend pointed out to me that I didn't describe Turner's Syndrome correctly way back. Turner's is actually a _missing_ x-chromosome, not an extra. I never said I was a genius... at least not to my readers.**


	30. Chapter 30

_Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds_.

* * *

"So, how was your vacation?" Dr. Browning asked.

"It was great." Grace said.

"Anything happen?"

Grace realized he meant in regards to her mental state, not what a great time she'd actually had.

"Well, I did have one... episode I guess is what you'd call it." she admitted.

Dr. Browning raised an eyebrow. "What happened during this _episode_?" he asked.

Grace bit her lip nervously. "I was really happy for a few days then I started crying and when I was done, I was just catatonic."

"How long were you catatonic for?" Dr Browning asked, scribbling something in his notebook.

"Well, not very long because my cousin showed up with her daughter. She calls me her aunt. She's like, the most amazing kid ever, but if she hadn't shown up, I think I probably would have stayed a zombie for days."

"Days?" Dr. Browning repeated.

Grace nodded. "When I get like that, it feels like it'll never end, like there's no light at the end of the tunnel."

Dr. Browning nodded attentively. "So, what triggered this episode?"

Grace bit her lip again. "Spencer."

She saw past Dr. Browning's pokerface. Inside, he was feeling smug. Grace felt like she'd betrayed Reid, so she tried to defend him.

"He was upset because I'd embarrassed him in front of our friends. Then I got upset because he was upset. It was just really stupid."

"Uh huh..." Br. Browning nodded, scribbling something again.

"You know, he's not as bad as I know you think he is." Grace decided to confront the doctor.

His pokerface was gone, he looked taken back and offended. "I never said he was, why would you think that?"

"I'm a profiler." Grace said. "I analyze everything a person says or does, it's my job, much like yours. I can tell by the things you say that you think my relationship with Spencer is an unhealthy one. You're wrong though. He's the one who wants me to come to therapy. He takes care of me."

"See, you said 'he takes care of me'." Dr. Browning pointed out. "Your lover isn't supposed to take care of you, your parents are. Did you grow up without a father figure? Is that why you're attracted to Spencer? Because he takes care of you like your father never did?"

Grace's face turned red in anger. "No! I never asked him to take care of me, and he doesn't feel obligated to, he just does it! He's a really sweet and caring guy and he doesn't deserve this. The only reason I don't get up and walk out of here right now is because he wants me to get better."

The psychologist sighed and handed Grace a piece of paper. "Give this to Susan when you leave, it's a referral to Dr. Samson, he'll give you something to help with your _episodes_."

Grace snatched the paper from Dr. Browning and stormed out of the office. She handed the referral to Susan, the receptionist who liked to tap her long, fake nails on her desk, annoying Grace while she waited for her appointments.

"Alright, next Tuesday, at four." Susan said cheerfully. "And don't forget, your next appointment with Dr. Browning is the Wednesday after that."

"Thanks." Grace mumbled and left the building.

* * *

Grace opened the door to the apartment, promising herself to leave her anger behind. She smiled when she saw Reid sitting on the couch, watching Star Trek.

"Hey, Spencer." she smiled, sitting down next to him.

He opened his arms to hug her and she noticed he still had his gun on him.

"Spencer, did you forget to put your gun away?" she teased.

He bit his lip, holding something back from her.

"Spencer, what's wrong?" Grace asked.

He sighed. "I didn't put it away because we have a case." he admitted. "I told everyone we had to wait for you to get back from your doctor's appointment."

"You told them I'm seeing a shrink?" Grace gasped.

"No! I told them that you just had a check-up."

Grace sighed in relief, but she was still upset about having a case. "Why aren't we flying out in the morning?" she asked.

"Well, the unsub only seems to be striking at night." Reid explained.

"Lovely." Grace said sarcastically.

* * *

"So far there's been three prostitutes found dead in sleazy Miami motels." JJ said, briefing the BAU on the jet.

"Prostitutes die all the time," Morgan said. "What makes them think they're connected?"

JJ showed the team the crime scene photos. All three woman had been tied to the beds then beat up and shot in the head.

Grace felt the contents of her stomach creep slowly up her throat. "Excuse me." she said and ran to the washroom. Quickly, she shut the door behind her and heaved into the toilet. She flushed it then sat on the floor for a moment, trying to regain her strength. She had been nauseous on and off for about two weeks now and could not figure out why. She had no other flu symptoms. Maybe it was just her nerves. She had been kind of nervous to return to the BAU and her recent fight with Dr. Browning had put her on edge. Grace grabbed a bottle of water from the mini-fridge and rinsed her mouth, then she returned to the team.

"Are you alright, Ash?" Hotch asked. Since Mark had made his appearance at the cabin last month, Hotch had been exceedingly nice to Grace. Grace had her suspicions as to why, but preferred not to dwell on them, she would find out when the time was right, no need to pry.

"Yeah, I'm alright." Grace lied. "These photos are just kind of... disgusting."

The rest of the team all eyed her suspiciously. They knew she never had a hard time looking at the crime scene photos, unless it involved children. Grace had came to them, preconditioned to the horrors they saw. Not that she got off on that kind of thing, she just saw it differently than most people. It was just a body, there was no soul left inside of it. Any mourning Grace felt for the victims of these violent crimes was mourning for their poor, abused souls.

"So, where's the sexual element to these murders?" Prentiss asked.

"I don't think there is one." Reid said. "They may have been tied up and beaten, but they were shot in the head. A sadist would have wanted them to suffer."

"Were they raped then?" Prentiss asked.

"Can you actually rape a prostitute?" Grace mused. "Isn't it just stealing?"

She received several dirty looks. Apparently her father's second favourite joke was not funny to the BAU. She wondered if they would like his pirate joke.

"There's no signs of rape in the medical examiner's report." JJ said, looking over the file.

"Stabbing usually represents a sexual element." Reid said.

"So we're looking at a female unsub then?" Rossi thought outloud.

"Well, typically there's no sexual element to a woman's murder." Reid said.

"And the quick, clean shot to the head looks like a woman's work." Rossi added.

"Or it could be revenge." Grace suggested.

"Unsubs usually stab for revenge." Hotch said.

"Not necessarily." Grace argued. "Look at school shootings, the shooters are looking for revenge when they do that."

"Are you saying you think a teenager did this?" Hotch inquired.

Grace shrugged. "Maybe not a teenager. Who would seek revenge on a prostitute?"

"A woman whose husband is sleeping with them?" Prentiss offered.

"Could be." Grace said.

"Well, we're all going to go on patrols of the area with the Miami PD when we land." Hotch said.

* * *

"So, explain how we're supposed to find prostitutes and a serial killer in a fucking squad car?" Grace asked Rossi.

"It's an unmarked car." he replied.

Grace felt kind of stupid, but followed Rossi and Officer Hill to the car anyway. She sat quietly in the back as they drove around the area where the murders had taken place. Rossi and Hill were discussing several old BAU cases and Grace fell asleep.

A voice came on the scanner and woke Grace. The dispatcher reported a 911 call at a hotel two blocks away. Normally, they would have ignored it and let the regular patrol deal with it, but the manager who called reported finding a woman tied to the bed, badly beaten.

They arrived at the scene to find the paramedics taking the victim away in an ambulance. They found the hotel manager and went to interview him.

Grace, Rossi and Hill all show him their badges.

"FBI and Miami PD." Grace said. "You called this in?"

The motel manager nodded.

"What happened?" Hill asked.

"Well, we uh... we charge by the hour here, ya see." the manager said. "There's usually a few noise complaints a night, but not like this."

"Could you show us the room?" Rossi asked.

The manager nodded and lead them inside, continuing his recollection of the event. "I got at least six calls about this one room, so I went to check it out. I knocked on the door and told them to keep it down, then this guy open the door and ran past me. The girl was tied to the bed and screamin' for me to call the cops." he opened the door to the room and let the agents and the officer in.

They looked around quickly. The unsub left nothing behind.

"Did you get a look at him?" Hill asked the manager.

"Yeah." he replied.

"Ash, you should go to the hospital and talk to our victim." Rossi said. "I'll stay here with Hill and get a better look at this."

* * *

Grace met Prentiss at the hospital. They had both been sent to talk to Kelly Sheradon because everyone felt she would be more open to the two women. A nurse showed them to the room where the young red-head was.

"She doesn't have any serious injuries." the nurse said. "But she's pretty traumatized. Be careful what you say to her."

Grace and Prentiss nodded and went into the room.

"Hi, Kelly." Prentiss greeted her. "My name's Emily and this is Grace, we're from the FBI's Behaviour Analysis Unit."

"What do you want?" Kelly groaned. "Why are you here and not the cops?"

"We're investigating a series of homicides." Grace said. "We think that the man who assaulted you is the murderer."

"What? Why?"

"He tied you up and beat you like the other victims." Prentiss said.

"Kelly, do you recognize any of these girls?" Grace asked, handing her pictures of the other girls. They still were unsuccessful in identifying the prostitutes.

"I've seen them around, but I don't know their names. Even if I did, it wouldn't be their real names." Kelly replied. "They worked a different block than me."

"Have girls been disappearing lately, Kelly?" Prentiss asked.

Kelly shrugged. "Girls disappear all the time. No one really thinks too much of it. I just tell myself that they've got themselves out of the game, got jobs or got married or whatever."

Grace bit her lip. She felt pity for Kelly, the girl couldn't be older than seventeen. She had no one. There was no one who could help her get through this. Grace wanted to help the poor girl, but she had no idea what to do.

"Kelly, can you tell us about the man who assaulted you?" she asked.

"He wasn't a man." Kelly said. "He couldn't have been much older than me."

"What did he look like?" Prentiss asked.

"Short, blonde, scrawny thing." Kelly said.

"Anything else?" Prentiss persisted. "Scars? Eye colour?"

Kelly shook her head. "He couldn't make eye contact."

"Is that normal for a... a client?" Grace asked.

"A lot of guys won't make eye contact. Like they're ashamed. I like it better when they don't look me in the eye anyway. I think most of the girls feel that way."

Grace nodded. "Was there anything unusual that you can remember about his behaviour?"

"He tied me up." Kelly said. "Clients aren't usually dominant. They want to be tied up, not the other way around, but he wasn't dominant, you could tell he wouldn't be able to tie up a girl who wasn't getting paid, you know?"

"Thanks Kelly, we'll let you rest now, we'll be back to see you later." Prentiss said.

The women left the room and to the police department. The sun was rising and Grace was struggling to keep her eyes open. The rest of the BAU was already at the station. Other than the assault on Kelly Sheradon, they hadn't found anything else.

Suddenly Grace began to feel sick again. She excused herself and got up and ran to the washroom. When she returned, everyone was gone except Reid.

"Hey, where'd everyone go?" Grace asked.

"They uh... they think they might have missed something at the crime scene." Reid replied.

"Why are you still here then?" Grace asked.

Reid bit his lip nervously. "Hotch told me to take you back to the hotel."

"Why?"

"You're sick, Grace, you need to rest."

Grace crossed her arms stubbornly across her chest. "No, I'm fine."

Reid sighed. "Could you please just humour me, Grace?"

"But they need me out there!" she protested.

"You're no good to anyone if you're sick." Reid said, taking her hand in his. "Come on, it's just for awhile."

Grace nodded and leaned her head against Reid's chest. He protectively wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and scanned the room, making sure none of the local police saw them together.

"Grace, you have a really bad fever." Reid remarked.

Grace shook her head. "No I don't, I'm freezing."

"This is Miami, you shouldn't be freezing. Come on, you're sicker than I thought."

Grace bit her lip. "Spencer?"

"Yeah, sweetheart?"

"Nevermind."

* * *

"Grace, sweetheart, wake up." Reid said, shaking her gently.

She groaned and opened her eyes. "Good morning, darling." she said cheerfully.

"It's three in the afternoon, Grace." he said. "So, I've been making a geographic profile."

Grace rolled her eyes at how excited Reid got over maps.

"And?"

"Well, the unsub has been choosing his victims geographically." Reid said breathlessly. "Each night he takes a victim from every third block in the area."

"So we know where he's going to strike next?"

Reid nodded.

"Is there a reason he's going every three blocks to choose a victim?" Grace asked.

Reid shook his head. "He might not even realize he's doing it." he said. "I'm going to call Hotch."

"Alright." Grace said, getting out of bed.

She went straight to the washroom to be sick, then she got in the shower. She let the icy water fall down on her, hoping it would ease her fever and satisfy Spencer. When she exited the washroom, he was sitting on the bed, waiting for her. He had a worried look on his face.

"Hey, did you call Hotch?" Grace asked.

Reid nodded. "Yeah." He took a deep breath. "Grace, would you... would you be bait for the unsub tonight?"

"Y-you're asking m-me to just let the unsub find me try to k-kill me?" Grace stuttered.

"No, no sweetheart," Reid said, standing up and attempting to hold her. "It's not like that at all."

Grace did not hear a word he said. "You want him to kill me?"

"No, Grace, it wasn't my idea. I told Hotch no, but we don't really have any other options."

"Spencer, I could die." Grace whimpered.

"No, no you won't, sweetheart. I'll be watching, alright? I won't let him hurt you." Reid assured her.

"There's really no other option?"

Grace shifted uncomfortably in the

* * *

back seat of the SUV. She was wearing a black leather mini-skirt, a bright pink tube top, fishnet stockings and cheap, heavy, greasy makeup. She wanted to cry when she saw herself in the mirror. She didn't want Spencer to see her like this. She thought she looked like a better prostitute than the girls on the street.

"Spencer, please stop looking at me." she begged when she caught him stealing glances at her in the rear view mirror.

"Grace-"

"No, no excuses. I look like a dirty tramp. Please stop." she said.

"Blondie-"

"No, Derek, I don't want to hear it." Grace cried. "I don't want to be here. I don't want anyone to see me like this. I don't want to die."

Reid reached into his pocket and extracted his cell phone. He quickly dialled Hotch's number.

"Hotch, it's off." he said. "I'm not letting her get hurt."

Silence.

"No, you can't use my girlfriend as bait!"

Silence.

"Yeah, just like everything was fine when you used Elle as bait?" Reid yelled.

More silence.

"No, Grace c-"

Hotch hung up on him.

Reid sighed. "Grace, I'm sorry."

* * *

Grace shivered and tried to look confident as she strutted along the sidewalk. She noticed the prostitutes eyeing her suspiciously. They definitely knew she was undercover. Maybe it was the way she kept looking over her shoulder in the direction of where Morgan and Reid had parked the SUV, or maybe it was the way she hung back and let the real prostitutes approach the vehicles stopping.

She wanted a fix. She knew she could easily get some heroin or maybe some coke from one of these girls. It would calm her nerves, relax her, help her catch the unsub, help her deal with the fact that her team was willing to sacrifice her to catch the unsub.

If she knew Spencer wasn't watching, she would go to one of the girls and get some heroin. Her stomach acid began to rise into her throat. OK, maybe she wouldn't try to score. If what she thought was correct, she wouldn't jeopardize it for a hit.

A small black Honda pulled up. The window rolled down and the man inside beckoned for her to get in. She stooped down to see who the man was. Blonde hair, unable to make eye contact, short and young, he fit Kelly Sheradon's description to a tee.

"Hey stud." Grace said, getting in the passenger seat.

The man – boy actually – did not say a word to Grace. She looked in the passenger side mirror of the car, looking for Reid and Morgan to follow them to the motel, but there was no sign of them. The boy parked the car and lead Grace to a room on the second floor. Grace stood quietly by the door while the boy sat on the bed.

"You're new to this, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yeah, I am." Grace said. "What's your name?" she asked, trying to stall for time.

"I'm James." the boy said shyly.

"You need to relax, James." Grace said, trying to sound sexy.

She walked towards him and reached out to touch him, but he hit her hand away. She bit her lip nervously, knowing what was coming next.

* * *

"Alright, gorgeous, I've got a name from those plates." Garcia said. "John Gardner, age fifty-two, address is... oh no."

"What is it, Garcia?" Reid asked, panicked.

"John Gardener died from AIDS last month." Garcia said.

Reid sighed. "Thanks anyway, Garcia."

"The kid in that car was way too young to be Gardner." Morgan said. "So we've got nothing?"

"No, but we need to get to that motel before anything happens to Grace." Reid said.

"Don't worry kid, your girl's gonna be fine, she's tough." Morgan assured him, stepping harder on the gas pedal anyway.

* * *

Grace was tied to the bed and James was standing at the foot of the bed, playing with his gun. Grace remembered Thorton and began to cry.

"Please, please don't do this to me." she begged.

Where was Spencer? He should be here by now. He promised she wouldn't get hurt.

"Shut up, whore!" James spat.

"I'm... I'm not a whore, James." Grace said. "Why are you doing this? You have your whole life ahead of you. You don't need to ruin it."

"Shut up! You're a dirty, diseased whore and I have no future now, thanks to you!"

"James, I may be a whore," Grace tried to reason with him. "But the Bible says you shouldn't kill anyone.

James laughed. "You think I'm doing this because of religion?"

Grace did think he was killing prostitutes for some kind of twisted religious purpose, but apparently she was wrong. What had he said about having no future because of her?

"You're going to die, bitch." James said, striking her face.

It stung like hell. He hit her again, this time in the stomach.

"Stop! Please stop!" Grace pleaded.

* * *

"Kick down the door!" Reid urged Morgan.

"Kid, if we go rushing in there, he might shoot Grace." Morgan said.

"Then what are we supposed to do? Wait here until he kills her anyway?" Reid demanded. "It's your fault we were late anyway!"

"No, you're the one who wanted to call Garcia with those licence plate numbers!" Morgan hissed.

"Alright, let's just stop fighting and get Grace."

"Sorry kid."

"I'm going in, I don't care what you say, Morgan." Reid insisted.

"Alright, I've got your back, kid."

* * *

Grace was sobbing as the cold metal of James' gun was pressed against her head, just above her left ear.

"Please, James, please don't."

"You deserve to die you dirty whore, you killed my father!" James yelled.

_What?_

"I didn't kill your father James." Grace said. "I've never even been to Miami before!"

The door flew open and Reid and Morgan came in.

"Put the gun down, kid!" Morgan ordered James.

"No!" James yelled. "Put _yours_ down or I'll kill her."

Reid dropped his gun first then Morgan followed.

"You don't need to kill her." Reid said.

"She's a whore! She killed my father!" James screamed.

"No, she's not a whore, James." Reid insisted. "Grace is an undercover FBI agent. She's not a whore, she's only ever been with me. Please let her go."

"Sh-she's not a whore?"

Reid shook his head. "No, she's not. Check her bag, her badge is in there."

With his gun still on the agents, James checked Grace's purse and found her badge.

"She's innocent." Reid said. "Put your gun down and let me untie her."

James who was in tears now, put his gun down and kept apologizing to Grace. Morgan ran to him and cuffed him.

"Why am I being arrested?" James demanded. "I didn't do anything! I said I was sorry."

Reid went to Grace and untied her. "I'm sorry we were late, sweetheart. I'm so sorry. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just a couple bruises." Grace said.

He pulled her close. "I'm so glad you're OK." he said and kissed her.

"Spencer, I think I'm gonna be sick." she said.

He helped her up and she went to the washroom.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Reid asked when she returned.

Grace nodded. "Yeah, but it's kind of cold in this outfit."

Reid smiled, happy that she was not going into another one of her episodes. He removed his grey cardigan and wrapped it around Grace's shoulders.

"You should probably go to the hospital anyway." Reid said. "Just in case."

Grace shook her head. If she was sick for the reason she thought she was, she wanted to wait, she was not ready to hear it yet.

"Please?"

"No, I don't need to be checked out." Grace said. "But I will go and see Kelly Sheradon. Someone needs to tell her that that creep is off the streets."

* * *

"So, why do you think he did this?" Grace asked Reid as they rode in the back of the squad car to the hospital.

Reid shrugged. "I'm not sure, but it sounds like a prostitute may have had something to do with his father's death." He paused for a moment. "We dealt with a case like this back in DC a few years ago." he said. "Our main suspect was this kid, Nathan Harris that I met coming off the train one day. Turns out it wasn't him killing the prostitutes, but he had thought of killing before. We got the guy who did it, but then we got a call. Nathan killed himself, he was afraid of his own mind."

Grace could see how hard that case had been on Reid. "I'm sorry, Spencer." she said, unsure of how to comfort him.

"Do you know what it's like to be afraid of your own mind?" he asked.

Grace nodded. "I do." she admitted. "Every day is a fight against myself. Every day I'm afraid that whatever part of me makes me so crazy will finally just take control of me and... and I'll finally do it."

"You know schizophrenia is genetic, right?" Reid asked.

Grace nodded.

"I wouldn't blame you if you left me." he said.

"Spencer, baby, _if_ you became schizophrenic, I would still love you." Grace promised. "You've loved me through all my insanity, I owe you the same."

"You don't _owe_ me anything, Grace. I don't want you to have to live that way."

Grace shook her head. "Spencer, I'm not a selfish person, except when it comes to you. I won't give you up over something like that. I love you."

* * *

Grace entered Kelly's hospital room to find her reading a fashion magazine and sipping a glass of water. The young red-head was resilient, Grace had to give her that.

"Hi, Kelly." she said.

"Oh, hi." Kelly replied, setting her magazine down.

"Feeling any better?" Grace asked.

"Yeah, the doctor said I should be out tomorrow." Kelly said happily.

"Well, we caught him." Grace said.

Kelly smiled. "That's great. Thank you."

"Just doing my job." Grace said modestly. "Do you have anywhere to go when you get out of here, Kelly."

"I've got to get back to work." she replied simply.

"You don't have to go back to the streets, Kelly." Grace said. "You could go back to school, go back to your family."

Kelly shrugged. "I don't have a family."

"There's lots of other options, Kelly."

She shook her head. "Not for me."

Grace handed her a small piece of paper. "Here's my card, Kelly." she said. "Call me if you need _anything_."

Kelly would not take the card, so Grace left it beside the bed and left the room. She found Reid in the waiting room, resting his eyes.

"Hey there handsome." she said.

He woke with a start. "Hey sweetheart."

She kissed him on the lips. "Any news?"

"Yeah I just got off the phone with Hotch. James Gardner admitted to all the murders. He killed those prostitutes-"

"Women." Grace corrected him. "They weren't just prostitutes, they were daughters, sisters, mothers. They were women."

"He killed those women because his father died of AIDS, which he got from a prostitute. After paying for his medications and funeral, there was nothing left for James. He was the top student of his class and had a bright future, but now he can't afford to go to school. He blamed the women his father slept with for ruining his life."

* * *

"I'm so glad to be home." Reid yawned, setting his go-bag at the door and heading straight to the bedroom.

Grace smiled faintly, but lingered behind in the kitchen. She did the dirty dishes they had left in the sink and cleaned out the refrigerator. Tired as she was, Grace wanted to avoid going to bed until Reid was asleep. She didn't want to have to tell him. Not now, not right after a case, that would be too much stress and misery.

Suddenly, she felt her nausea return. She bolted to the washroom and emptied her stomach into the toilet.

"Are you alright in there, sweetheart?" Reid asked.

"No." Grace whimpered.

Reid opened the door and sat down on the floor beside her. He pulled her into his lap and stroked her hair. When he stared into her eyes, she began to cry.

"Grace, it's alright." he assured her. "It's just the flu."

Grace shook her head. "It's not the flu, Spencer. I... I think I'm pregnant."

* * *

**A/N: And the evil genius, ceegeeayy strikes again with another cliffhanger! Muahahahahaha!**

**I had such a lovely snow day to write this today. Yes, I realize that the case I wrote is very similar to Sex, Birth, Death, but that was the point. **

**Anyway, don't forget to review, my lovely loyal readers! Goodnight!**


	31. Chapter 31

_Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds_

_Warning: A bit more cursing than usual from Grace in this chapter_

* * *

"W-what?" Reid gasped.

"I said, 'I think I'm pregnant'." Grace repeated herself.

"But how?"

Grace rolled her eyes. "For a genius, you can be _really_ dumb sometimes."

"No, I meant how because we used a condom every time and when that one broke, you took Plan B."

Grace bit her lip. "You know, it's not one hundred percent effective, Spencer." She paused then added quietly, "Especially if you don't take them in the first place."

Reid looked stunned. "You didn't take them?"

Grace shook her head. "No." She nuzzled her face into his shoulder.

"Grace, you should have just told me you didn't want to take them." Reid scolded her.

"I didn't know I didn't want to take them until I got in there." Grace admitted. "I was just about to take them and I thought about Ainsley and how happy she was, and I thought about you and how cute you looked when you were holding Henry and I thought that if I am pregnant, I don't want to kill it."

Grace sobbed heavily. Reid rubbed her back to comfort her, but his mind was elsewhere.

He wished Grace had just taken the pills. He didn't want this. He was terrible with children, they made him feel so awkward. And what about genetics? The poor kid would definitely have at least one of his or Grace's mental illnesses, or his high IQ. He didn't wish that on anyone. And what about work? The two of them travelled too much to raise a child. Who would they leave it with when they travelled? They really didn't know anyone in the area except for the rest of the BAU.

"Spencer, I'm sorry." Grace apologized.

"Don't apologize, sweetheart." Reid said. "We should have discussed the issue before it came to this."

"I'm so scared, Spencer." Grace confessed.

"It'll be alright, Grace." he assured her, but doubted his own words.

He couldn't let her know that he was scared too. She looked upset enough as it is. Reid wondered if she was having another episode. He would have to be careful to not make it worse. They could discuss their predicament when she was in her regular state of mind.

"Come on, sweetheart." Reid said. "Let's get some sleep, we can deal with this in the morning."

Grace nodded indifferently and went to the bedroom.

* * *

Grace and Reid both had trouble falling asleep that night. They lay together in silence, unsure of what they could possibly say to the other. Spencer did fall asleep eventually, but Grace stayed awake, thinking about their situation.

Spencer had acted so shocked when she told him. Then he looked scared and distant. Grace figured that was probably a normal reaction for any man. Even Grace was scared, but Spencer would come to accept it and they would make this work.

She put her hand on top of his, which was resting on her abdomen. She relaxed and finally began to fall asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Reid was awake before Grace. She slept with a smile on her face and Reid could only hope that whatever she was dreaming about was better than the situation she would face when she awoke. Reid gently pulled her closer, his hand still resting on her abdomen and her smile grew wider. He hoped that Grace would stay asleep for a while longer. He wanted to put off the test as long as he could, needing more time to think it over.

What would he do if she actually was pregnant? He loved Grace and didn't want to leave her, but their child deserved a better father. Maybe by removing himself from the picture, he could minimize the chances of the baby developing schizophrenia. Then Grace would have to handle this on her own. Could she do it? She was strong, she could deal with a lot of things, but this was not something to deal with, it was something to _live_ with. Could he really let his child have the same terrible childhood that he had?

_I'm sorry I can't be the father you need me to be, baby_, he thought.

Grace stirred in her sleep and looked like she was about to wake up. She rolled over to face Reid and kissed his bare chest.

"Good morning." Grace said cheerfully until she remembered what had to be done today.

"Hey." Reid said.

Grace was clueless as to what to say to him so she got out of bed and got dressed in a pair of denim shorts and a black tank top. She brushed her hair quickly and applied a thin layer of mascara to her eyelashes.

"Are you coming?" Grace asked Reid, grabbing her purse off of her dresser.

"Do I have to?" Reid asked, wondering why it was necessary for him to accompany Grace to the drugstore that was a twelve minute and fourteen second drive away.

"N-n-no..." Grace said, obviously hurt. "But I'd like you to."

Reid sighed and got out of bed. He quickly put on a pair of tight black jeans and a pale blue t-shirt. Grace still could not get used to seeing him dressed casually.

They got into Grace's car, Reid in the driver's seat.

"Spencer," Grace said once they were on the road. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Reid repeated, slightly annoyed. "You're pregnant! That's what's wrong! You didn't even tell me that you didn't take the morning after pill! Did you even think of asking me if I wanted this?"

"You're mad at me over something we're not even sure of yet? Since when does Dr. Reid jump to conclusions?" Grace asked. "Stop accusing me of whatever the fuck you're accusing me of! Do you honestly think I did this on purpose just to hurt you?"

"No, but it seems like you had some kind of ulterior motive."

"I'm not the one who was wearing the fucking broken condom!" Grace yelled. "I'm not the one who told his girlfriend to take a fucking abortion pill without even asking her if she wanted to!" She broke down in tears.

"Grace, I'm sorry I lost it, sweetheart, but why didn't you just tell me you didn't want to take them?"

"Because I didn't want to have this fight while we were on vacation." Grace whimpered. "I didn't do this on purpose, Spencer. You're responsible for fifty percent of this mess, you know."

Reid sighed and tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "I'm sorry, Grace. I'm just scared."

"What are you scared of, Spencer?" she asked.

"Everything." he admitted. "I'm afraid that I could pass on the schizophrenia. I'm afraid that I won't be good enough. I'm afraid I won't be able to protect it – I mean, the baby – from the sick freaks we deal with every day."

"Spencer, everyone has those fears in this situation." Grace said. "It's completely normal. You just have to decide if you're going to try to beat your self-doubt or run from your fears like your father did." She paused. "Spencer, I need you right now."

He sighed, parked the car in the drugstore parking lot and looked deeply into Grace's eyes. His dark, loving gaze made Grace's heart flutter.

"I'm sorry, Grace." he said sincerely. "Let's just wait until we know for sure before we talk about this anymore, alright?"

Grace nodded and they got out of the car. Reid took her hand in his and they entered the drugstore. They went straight to the pregnancy tests and took a box off the shelf.

"Good luck!" the young cashier said as they left the store.

* * *

"Spencer?" Grace called from the washroom.

"Yeah?" Reid said, stopping his pacing outside the door.

"Come in here please."

Reid opened the door and saw Grace standing at the sink with the test in her hand.

"W-what does it say?" he asked nervously.

"We have to wait a minute." Grace said, setting the test down on the counter.

Reid's eyes shifted from Grace to the test.

"Don't look at it!" Grace ordered. "Please just distract me before my head explodes."

Reid stepped closer to her and wrapped an arm around her waist. How could he distract her from this when he couldn't even distract himself?

"Uh... donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes. Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every Dewey-decimal category. Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a Friday the thirteenth. Most lipstick contains fish scales. Murder is the only crime that doesn't increase during a full moon. One quarter of the human brain is used to control the eyes. Eagles mate while airborne. The Bible is the most shoplifted book in the world."

Grace smiled and pressed a finger against Reid's lips. "As much as I love when you talk facts, I had other ideas when I said 'distract me'." She removed her finger and planted a kiss on him.

When they were finished, they checked the test.

"Negative." Grace said.

Reid felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He forcefully pressed his lips to Grace's and held her as tightly as he could. She felt limp in his arms and what Reid originally thought were joyous laughs turned out to be deep, painful sobs.

"Grace, what's wrong?" Reid asked, loosening his grip and looking Grace in the eye.

"I... I'm not..." Grace tried to reply between sobs.

Reid sighed and stroked her hair. He knew what was wrong. Grace had been sure she was pregnant and had already formed an attachment to the baby that never actually existed. Now it would be as if she had miscarried. She would feel an immense amount of grief and combined with her drastic moods, it could be a dangerous concoction.

* * *

Grace sat in the waiting room where she normally waited for her appointments with Dr. Browning. However, today she was waiting to see Dr. Samson who would prescribe her medications. Medications that were supposed to make her "normal" make her think "right". Grace abhorred the idea of being medicated. Shouldn't the way she's felt her entire life be deemed "normal"? It sure felt normal to her.

OK, so maybe she wasn't "normal". Especially not lately. She had not smiled since she saw the results of the pregnancy test. She hadn't spoken a word to Reid since that day. She barely spoke to the BAU either. Not even Garcia who had attempted to bring the happy Grace back to the surface with a shopping trip. Nothing had worked. In less than twenty-four hours, Reid had given up on her. She was left alone to fight the darkness that seemed to be invading her brain. He had tried to explain to her why she felt the way she did and she understood, deep down where the reasonable, happy Grace was lurking, but on the surface it did not register. All she could feel was emptiness.

"Grace Ashton?" a handsome middle-aged man said,

Grace stood up.

"I'm Dr. Samson." he said.

Grace shook his hand and he lead her to his office.

"So we're not going to diagnose you with anything today, Miss Ashton." Dr. Samson said, taking a seat.

Grace did not even have the energy to correct Dr. Samson about the name she preferred to be called.

"I've reviewed some notes Dr. Browning has given me and I've decided to give you a very mild anti-depressant to start out with, but I need to get a brief medical history from you first."

Grace nodded.

"How old are you?" Dr. Samson asked.

"Twenty-four." Grace replied.

"Any serious medical problems? Diabetes, epilepsy, et cetera?"

Grace shook her head.

"Alright." Dr. Samson made a note on the form in front of him. "What about your immediate family?"

"Well, one of my grandfathers died of heart failure, my father had kidney and liver problems, but they were caused by his alcoholism, and my younger sister has Turner's Syndrome."

Dr. Samson nodded. "What about any history of mental illness in your family?"

Grace hesitated. "Depression." she said. "Lots of it, although no one's ever been diagnosed. My family is ignorant, they don't believe in psychology."

"So there's a possibility of bipolar disorder or schizophrenia?"

Grace shrugged. "I guess so."

"Have you ever suffered from a mental illness?"

"Well, I've battled with depression for as long as I can remember and my emotions are kind of... extreme."

"Do you smoke or drink alcohol?" Dr. Samson inquired.

"I quit smoking three years ago." Grace said. "I drink... occasionally."

"You won't be able to drink on these medications." Dr. Samson advised her. "Drug use of any kind?"

"I used pretty much everything until three years ago." Grace said. "I wouldn't even take painkillers when I was stabbed a few months ago."

"You were stabbed?" Dr. Samson asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I work for the Behaviour Analysis Unit of the FBI." Grace explained. "That kind of danger is normal I guess."

"Is there any possibility that you could be pregnant?"

Grace began to tear up. "No, I just did a test Saturday."

"Are you alright, Miss Ashton?" Dr. Samson asked.

She shook her head. "No, not really."

"When's your next appointment with Dr. Browning?"

Grace groaned. "Fuck I hate that guy!" she cursed. "Sometimes I swear he doesn't give a damn about what's wrong with me. All he seems to care about is making me break up with my boyfriend."

"You should find a new therapist." Dr. Samson said, surprising Grace. "There's been problems like this before. Dr. Browning thinks that most boyfriends are abusive and that almost all relationships are unhealthy. Cancel your next appointment, take some time to clear your head and then find a new doctor."

Grace nodded.

"You seem like a smart girl, I can't see you staying in a relationship if you thought it was unhealthy." Dr. Samson continued. "Now these anti-depressants, you need to follow the instructions on the label. This prescription should last you a few months until you find a new therapist. If anything seems off to you, call me, alright?"

"Alright." Grace said. "Thank you."

* * *

Grace walked quickly up the steps to the apartment. She no longer felt distant and depressed. She was still sad, but she felt like she was in control now, not her emotions.

"Spencer?" she called, opening the door and kicking off her shoes.

The lights were off, but his car had been in the driveway so he must be home. She flicked the lights, but they did not turn on. She jumped when she saw a spark ignite in the kitchen. A shadowy figure lit a candle on the table. The apartment lit up enough for Grace to see that it was Reid.

"Holy fuck, don't scare me like that, Spencer!" Grace gasped. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Sorry, sweetheart." Reid said, stepping toward Grace.

"What's with the candles anyway?" Grace asked in curiosity.

"Well, you've been upset and mad at me lately," Reid explained. "So I uh... I thought... I thought maybe I... Maybe you would..."

Grace smiled at the handsome, stuttering genius in front of her. She stepped past him and saw that he had set up a candle-lit dinner for her. She was just about to ask Reid when he had learned to cook when she noticed the Chinese take-out boxes on the counter. She laughed quietly to herself. At least he tried. Grace turned around and hugged him. Each had no idea how relieved the other was to finally have contact, to break the wall that had come between them in those last few days.

"Oh, Spencer, this is great," Grace said, kissing him. "But I don't really have an appetite right now." She dug into her purse and showed him the bottle of pills Dr. Samson had given her. "According to this, I won't have much of an appetite at all."

"That's alright." Reid said, the dejected look on his face betraying his statement.

"I do have a huge appetite for something else though." Grace smiled suggestively.

Reid grinned. "I'll be there in a minute." he said, "I just need to clean this up and put the lightbulbs back in."

Grace hugged him as tightly as she could. "I love you, Spencer."

He kissed her softly on the lips. "I love you too, Grace."

* * *

Grace stood at her closet door stared at the clock on the nightstand. 4:27. She had gotten up an hour and a half ago and went to the kitchen. She sat at the table and cried silently for awhile then she found a piece of paper and began to write Spencer a letter. When she was done, she went to her closet, got dressed and packed her suitcase. Now here she stood, watching Spencer sleep and wondering if she was doing the right thing.

He looked so sweet, so peaceful as he snored lightly and hugged the pillow Grace had slipped into his arms when she had stealthily gotten out of bed. She stepped gingerly to the bed and sat on the edge beside him. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks and she felt her heart rip in two as she stroked his soft, brown hair. She reached over him and placed the letter on her pillow, then she wrapped her arms around his thin frame and kissed his cheek.

"I love you, Spencer." she choked. "I'm sorry I have to do this."

Grace tucked a stray strand of Reid's hair behind his ear. She took one last look at him then stood up, grabbed her bags and walked out the door. When she left the garage, she pulled Reid's CalTech sweater tighter to protect her from the chilly night air as she approached the taxi that awaited her.

* * *

**A/N: And the master of cliffhangers strikes again! Muahahahaha!**

**That's actually not that funny. As I was writing, that song, Leaving On A Jetplane was playing in my head and I was tearing up a bit. This has got to be the most unplanned thing so far in this story. **

**Oh well, time to go study. Don't forget to review, my lovely loyal readers! **


	32. Chapter 32

_Disclaimer: I own nothing except Grace._

* * *

When Reid awoke the next morning, he discovered that Grace was not laying next to him.

"Grace?" he called.

No answer.

"Grace? Where are you?"

He sat up and discovered an envelope on Grace's pillow. A lump formed in his throat as he remembered the last time he found an envelope with his name scrawled across it. He took a deep breath and opened the envelope carefully. He pulled out the letter, unfolded it and began to read.

_Spencer,_

_I'm sorry I have to say goodbye this way, but I know that if I tried to say it to your face, well, I just couldn't do it. _

_I don't want you to think this is your fault. I know you'll blame yourself like you blame yourself for everything, but please don't. This has nothing to do with you, it's all me. There's something wrong inside me, there's something I need to sort out. I'm going away for awhile to find the answer to... well, I don't even know what I'm looking for._

_Please don't come after me, I need to do this on my own. I know it probably sounds crazy, Spencer, but this is something I have to do. _

_I love you, Spencer, even though it probably doesn't seem like it right now, I do. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone or anything. That's why I have to do this, you don't deserve to have to deal with me. I'm sorry, Spencer. I love you._

_-Grace_

Reid re-read the letter with tears streaming down his face. Grace was gone. She was gone and left nothing but a letter, just like Gideon and his father.

He picked up the phone and desperately dialled Grace's number. It went straight to voice-mail. Seconds after hanging up, the phone rang. Reid picked it up, hoping it was Grace.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hey, Spence," JJ said. "We've got a case."

"Alright, I'll see you at Quantico." Reid said dismally.

He sighed and got dressed, fighting back tears the whole time. He tried as hard as he could to hold himself together when he walked into the BAU bullpen.

"Hey, Reid!" Prentiss called from the conference room. "We're meeting now."

Reid nodded and joined the rest of the team around their round table.

"Hey, Lover Boy," Morgan laughed. "Where's Blondie?"

Before Reid could answer, before he could break down in front of his co-workers, Hotch answered for him.

"Medical leave for three months." he said. "Her doctor faxed us last night."

A small bit of hope formed in Reid's chest. Grace had taken a leave, she hadn't quit, there was a possibility she would return. He was still depressed though, still distracted. He didn't hear a word about the case.

"Alright, wheels up in thirty." Hotch said, leaving the room.

The team all went to get their go-bags and Reid snuck into Garcia's office.

"Well hello there, Boy Wonder." she greeted him.

"Hey, Garcia, could you um... could you maybe locate Grace for me?" he requested.

Garcia gave him a confused look. "Locate her? She's on medical leave, shouldn't she be at home?"

Reid sighed in frustration and ran his hands through his hair.

"What's wrong, Reid?" Garcia asked.

"Grace, she... she..." Reid finally broke.

Garcia got out of her chair and offered it to Reid. "What's wrong? What happened?" she pressed.

The door flew open and Morgan entered the room. "Hey kid, we're leav-" He stopped when he saw his friend in tears. "What's going on in here?"

"Grace left." Reid confessed. "In the middle of the night. All she left was this note." He reached into his pocket and withdrew the note, folded, wrinkled and stained with tears – both his and Grace's.

Morgan and Garcia took the note to read and he continued to speak.

"This is all my fault." Reid said. "If I hadn't asked her to take the morning after pill, if I hadn't been such a jerk... She wanted a baby and I didn't and now she's gone and it's all my fault."

"Whoa- baby? What?" Morgan asked in disbelief.

"They had a pregnancy scare last week." Garcia explained. "Grace got really depressed when she found out she wasn't. Poor thing, not even a new pair of Jimmy Choos would cheer her up."

"This letter doesn't sound depressed though." Morgan stated. "She sounds like Grace, not like the way she gets when she's usually sad."

"Have you filed a missing persons report?" Garcia asked Reid.

He shook her head. "No, I don't think I can. She's not a child, she can go where she wants. She left of her own accord, she wasn't kidnapped."

The trio was silent for a moment.

"Reid, are you sure Grace even _wants_ to be found?" Garcia asked. "She said 'Please don't come after me'."

"She's sick!" Reid insisted.

"I miss Gracie too, Reid," Garcia assured him. "But you know she won't want us tracking her down after she specifically asked us not to."

"No, she asked _me_ not to go after her, not you." Reid argued. "Garcia, she's sick, I'm worried about her. I won't go after her, but if I could just know where she is and if she's alright."

"How sick is she?" Morgan asked. "And what is she sick _with_?"

Reid sighed. "She hasn't been diagnosed yet, but I think she has a serious mental illness. Possibly schizophrenia or bipolar disorder."

Garcia sighed in defeat. "Alright, I'll start my search."

* * *

Grace walked across the footbridge and into the thick, green forest. It was cooler in the forest, the leaves blocking out the bright, hot sun. She followed the dirt trail further into the woods until she came to a clearing. The clearing was full of headstones, some old, some new. It was the Ashton family cemetery. Despite the obvious presence of death, it was a peaceful place. The grief and despair that usually hung over a cemetery had never touched this one.

"Hey, Dad." Grace said, sitting on the grass in front of the newest headstone. "I'm sorry I haven't been up since the funeral, but you know how it is. I wanted to tell you that I got clean. I haven't taken anything since... since your funeral. I wanted to tell you about my new job too. I work for the FBI now, Dad. No, I'm not breaking up organized crime or arresting people for not paying their taxes, I know you wouldn't like that. I catch serial killers, terrorists, rapists and paedophiles. Crazy, right? It's pretty dangerous. I get to carry a gun and my team has our own jet. I met a guy too. I work with him, his name's Spencer Reid. _Dr._ Spencer Reid actually, Dad. He's a genius. Like seriously, he has an IQ of 187. You'd like him I think. Well, I hope you would anyway. Truth is, I don't really know what you would have liked, Dad. All my life you told me one thing and expected another. I spent all my life trying to be the son you wanted then you'd turn around and expect me to act like a wife. Hell, I'm still trying to impress you, Dad. This guy I work with, Dave, he told me the other day that you'd be proud of me if you knew what I do. I save people every day, Dad. I hope that's enough for you."

Grace took a can of her father's favourite beer from her bag, opened it and poured half on the ground then chugged the rest.

"I'm seeing a therapist now." she continued to talk to the grave. "I know you never approved of them, but I think it might help. Or maybe not. I guess talking to a grave isn't something a sane person would do." Grace sighed. "I guess I should probably go now. I miss you, Dad."

She stood up and stared at the headstone for one last time and left the way she came.

* * *

"You've reached the goddess of the information super-highway," Garcia said. "How may I dazzle you today?"

"Anything yet?" Reid begged her through the phone.

"Our girl's gone home, Reid." Garcia said. "She landed four hours ago."

"She's probably staying at the cabin." Reid said, relieved knowing that Grace was safe.

"You're not going up there, are you?" Garcia asked.

"No, not while I'm on this case anyway." Reid replied. "I'm going to call her there though."

"Alright, Boy Genius, good luck."

"Thanks, Garcia." he said and hung up the phone.

* * *

Grace had just walked in the door of the cabin when she heard the phone ring. No one knew she was here, so who could be calling? She checked the caller ID. It was Reid.

A tear came to her eye as she thought of Spencer. She imagined he had that hurt puppy dog look on his face right now. She had done this to him. She had hurt him, she had abandoned him. Grace had hoped he would understand her letter and understand that this was temporary, that she'd be back when she found whatever she was looking for.

She knew she couldn't resist answering the phone. She knew that if she didn't answer the phone, Spencer would be there eventually. Garcia must have tracked her down and would do so until Spencer finally contacted her. To avoid the urge to answer the phone, Grace left the cabin, locking the door behind her. She got in her rental car and sped away to the airport.

* * *

Reid did not sleep that night. Cold hotel beds and a mind burdened with questions about a sick serial killer did not allow for much sleep anyway, but without Grace beside him, it was impossible. Sometimes, if the case was really hard on Reid and he could not get it out of his mind, Grace, laying next to him in their hotel bed would blow into his ear then kiss his cheek. She said she was erasing the thoughts. He always laughed and told her it wasn't that easy, but now all he wanted was for her to "erase" the thoughts that plagued him. He envied Grace's ability to throw her self into a case then completely detach from it when she needed to. Reid wondered if maybe Grace's mental illness was helping her cope in some strange way.

"Hey, Reid, are you alright?" Prentiss asked, setting a heavily sugared cup of coffee in front of him.

"Hmm?" Reid said, returning to reality.

"I said 'Are you alright?'" Prentiss repeated herself.

"Oh, uh... yeah, I'm fine."

Prentiss sat down at the table, opposite Reid. She reached her hand out to place it on his, but he retracted it. He shoved his hand in his pants pocket and stroked the picture of him and Grace that he had hidden in there.

"Are you sure?" Prentiss pressed. "You don't look fine."

Reid sighed. "Grace is gone."

"She's what?"

"She's gone. She left and I've got nothing but a letter."

Prentiss was shocked. Grace and Reid could barely keep their hands off eachother, they never left eachother's side, they made eachother so happy, how could she just up and leave? Especially after Reid's father and Gideon had left him the same way.

"I'm sorry, Reid." she said. "What happened? You guys seemed fine the other day."

Reid scratched the inside of his elbow nervously. "I don't think Grace and I have ever been 'fine'. We're either fighting or she's too far gone..."

"Then do you think it's really worth it?" Prentiss asked.

Reid thought for a moment. He and Grace often fought, but it was only due to a lack of communication and they always made up in the end. He could see how someone could perceive Grace's clingy-ness as a strong physical connection between them. There was a strong physical connection between them, but Reid did not like to display affection in public, he only did it because it comforted her and he hated to see her sad. When she was happy, he was happy. She made him happier than he had been in a long time, but in the end, which would triumph over the other? The good times or the bad?

"I... I don't know." Reid admitted.

His cell phone rang, it was Garcia.

"Reid, she got on a plane last night." Garcia informed him.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"Well, the plane stopped in London, then she got on another to Mumbai." Garcia said. "What could she possibly be doing in India?"

Reid knew, but he did not want to say. "Thanks Garcia, let me know if you find anything else."

"Alright, Garcia out!"

* * *

Grace sat in the bar of the posh hotel she had just checked into. She hadn't even bothered to go to her room, she gave her bags to a bellboy and went straight to the bar. Grace sat at the bar, ordering virgin bloody Marys and pretending to act like a drunken slut, flirting with the business men who were getting drunk after their meetings.

She had no intention of sleeping with any of these men. She had a target and she was waiting patiently for him. The man she was waiting for was not likely to remember her, but he was more likely to approach her if she looked promiscuous.

It didn't take a profiler to to tell you that that was how Sanjay Nagar his women; easy, young, rich, blonde white girls. It was in all the tabloids and newspapers, Nagar, son of a diplomat with big business connections was constantly spotted with women like this instead of his wife whom he married when he was twenty-one after an arrangement made by the couple's parents. Nagar paid big bucks to keep his affairs quiet, but after a few too many drinks, he got careless.

The target entered the room. Characteristically, he approached Grace with the confidence typical of a man with his status and wealth.

"Hey, I'm Sanjay Nagar." he immediately introduced himself to Grace.

"Claire DuMont." Grace said in a fake French accent.

Nagar smiled slyly. "May I buy you a drink, Miss DuMont?" he asked.

"Oui, merci Monsieur Nagar." she said, feigning gratitude.

"What do you drink, Miss DuMont?" Nagar asked.

"Vodka." Grace replied. "Straight."

They drank and flirted until Nagar suggested they get a room. This was what Grace had wanted, a chance to get Nagar alone, show him the lives he had ruined and then get the revenge that those people deserved. Why then was she questioning whether or not to kill him?

There was nothing that could have saved Muna from being sentenced to death for the murder committed by Nagar. Nothing. But Grace planned to give Nagar what he deserved.

She was just about to follow Nagar to his room when her phone rang. She recognized the number. Aparajita, Muna's daughter was calling. Grace excused herself to take the call. She could always get Nagar later.

"Hey! Jita!" she greeted the young woman.

"Grace, I heard you were in Mumbai. Why haven't you come to visit me?"

"Oh, I was just having a few drinks at the hotel bar. I didn't know if you were working or not." Grace lied.

"I just got off, come to my apartment. I'd like to see you, Grace."

"Alright, I'll be there as soon as I can." Grace said.

She hung up and returned to the bar where Nagar was waiting.

"I'm sorry, Monsieur Nagar, I must go now." Grace said, resuming her alias. "It was nice to meet you, maybe I'll see you again sometime."

She thought she would vomit, forcing herself to say those words to him, letting him get away like that. She left the hotel and got a cab to Jita's apartment.

"Grace!" Jita greeted her at the door.

"Hey, Jita." she said, wrapping her arms around her. "How've you been?"

"Great." Jita replied. "Please, come in."

Grace entered the apartment. It was the same one Jita had shared with her father before his execution. The walls were still a dark, depressing blue, but they were in even more disrepair than they were several years ago. Jita had done her best to make the glum dwelling brighter and more presentable. The walls were covered in framed photographs and paintings. Jita had updated most of the furniture in the apartment as well. There was some splash of colour wherever Grace looked.

Grace removed her shoes and took a seat on the couch. She shifted her gaze around the room. Everywhere she looked, there was a photograph of Muna. She couldn't bring herself to look at him, feeling that she had failed him in some way.

"You need to stop beating yourself up over it." Jita says, setting the tea tray on the coffee table.

Grace just sighed and shook her head. "Had I never taken drugs in the first place, had I actually _tried_ in school and graduated early like..." She shook the thought of Reid out of her head. "Like I'd wanted to, I could have been a lawyer by then. I could have saved him."

Jita sat down beside Grace and put a hand on her shoulder. "If you had followed that path, you never would have met him." she reasoned.

Grace was silent. She had no idea what to say. She regretted coming to see Jita.

"Grace, I think it was fate that brought us together." Jita said.

Grace thought back to the day she had met Jita and her father. Grace had went to Bandhavgarh National park in hopes of seeing a tiger. The park was said to be the best one in the country for tiger sightings and they offered expeditions on elephants. Jita and Muna had been in her expedition group and being the only people in the group who spoke English, Grace had gravitated toward them. Muna was a poor widower, but he loved his daughter, his one and only child. He and Jita bonded over trips to educational and historic destinations. After the successful, tiger-filler journey, Muna had invited Grace to stay with him and Jita and experience the more modern side of Indian culture in Mumbai. She had been staying with them when Muna was arrested.

"Why did fate want me, a fragile, recovering drug addict to experience grief that I never should have known?" Grace asked tearfully.

"To learn." Jita said simply. She may have only been eighteen, but she was very mature and wise. "What did you learn from it?"

"That the world is a fucked up place." Grace said dryly.

"What did you learn about yourself?" Jita asked.

Grace thought for a moment. It was Muna's wrongful conviction that had made her decide to study criminology. She had decided that she wanted to be a defence lawyer so she could prevent wrongful convictions like this from happening again. Better ten guilty men go free than one innocent man be convicted, she had thought. Now that she worked for the BAU though, she was willing to sacrifice one innocent man to see ten of the sick bastards they caught be punished. For this, she felt slightly guilty, like she had betrayed Muna.

Jita understood that Grace did not want to talk about what she had learned, so she changed the subject. "I got accepted to Yale." she said. "Full scholarship. I'm just waiting for my student visa to be approved."

Grace smiled. Yale had been Spencer's safety school. "That's great, Jita! Congrats!"

Jita blushed. She had always been a modest girl, never bragging about any of her achievements even though if there was ever anyone who deserved to, it was her. "Thank you."

"What are you taking?" Grace asked.

"Human rights." Jits said.

Grace smiled with pride. "Your father would be proud of you, Jita. I know I am." she said. "You should come visit me and... come visit me when you're in the states."

Jita smiled and changed the subject again.

"I know why you came to Mumbai." she said seriously. "That purse of yours is awfully heavy."

Jita knew she had a gun. She knew she planned to get revenge on Nagar.

"Killing him will not avenge my father, Grace." she continued.

"Then what will?"

"Living our lives as if Nagar never affected us." Jita said. "Do you know what 'Aparajita' means in Sanskrit?"

Grace shook her head.

"It means 'unconquered'. We can't let this ruin our lives, that's not what my father would have wanted. We can't let any of the bad things that happen to us conquer our souls."

* * *

It was 12:47am when Reid unlocked the door of the apartment above the garage. Exhausted, he staggered inside and switched on the light.

"Grace?" he called out desperately, hoping beyond all reasonable logic that she would be home, waiting for him.

No answer.

He hung up his keys and dragged himself to the bedroom. He collapsed on the bed, fully clothed. As tired as he was from this case though, he could not fall asleep. He needed Grace beside him. He hadn't realized how much easier things were when she was around until she was gone.

Her side of the bed still smelled like her. Knowing her light, floral scent would not linger much longer, he hugged her pillow, salvaging it all while he still could. The feeling of hurt in his chest which had never really went away in the week since she had left, it had merely subsided. It resurfaced now and intensified, causing him to sob loudly into the pillow.

Sometimes he thought he should hate her for this, _wanted_ to hate her for the pain she caused him, but he couldn't. He loved the crazy blonde girl he called "sweetheart". He missed her with every fibre of his being.

The whole team had noticed something was wrong. Only Morgan, Garcia and Prentiss knew what had happened though. Hotch had suggested Reid take some time off to get his head together, suspecting he had relapsed on Dilaudid. JJ thought that something was wrong with his mother and Rossi attributed Reid's recent behaviour to relationship problems, but could not begin to imagine what had really happened.

_Some profilers they are_, Reid had thought. However, how could they profile him correctly now that he finally had a girlfriend? This was foreign territory to him and not even he knew how he would react to most things.

_Well, I guess they'll have the old, terminally single, awkward Reid back soon enough_, he thought. He did not believe that though. No way could he just go back to who he used to be. Grace had changed him.

He sighed and turned his cell phone on, checking for any missed messages from Garcia. Nothing. There had been no news since Grace had boarded the plane to Mumbai.

"No news is good news." Garcia had told him the last time they had spoken.

Reid did not believe it though. No news was probably bad news when a young, beautiful woman was travelling alone in a foreign country.

When he realized that sleep was impossible, he got out of bed and went to the guest room which had long since been restored as Grace's art/music/writing room after Charlotte, Dan and Violet's visit in May.

An uncompleted painting rested on the easel. It was an abstract painting of Reid helping Grace to her car when they went clubbing with Morgan and Garcia. Their faces had not been finished and pieces of the background were missing, but Reid could tell it was them. In the smallest print he could imagine was possible with a paintbrush was scrawled beneath them: _I'm sorry I can't return the favour, but how can I help you when I can't even help myself?_

He was beginning to realize why Grace had left. She did not want to burden him with her mental illness. She knew that relationships were give and take, not just take.

Reid rushed out of the room and closed the door behind him.

* * *

Grace wished she had something warmer to wear than Reid's Caltech sweater as the cool, Alaskan air assaulted her body. She probably should have thought her hike through. A coat and proper footwear would have been useful on her journey. There was not snow on the ground, but this certainly was not India or Ghana. She had not anticipated coming to Alaska when she left her apartment over a month ago, but this impromptu trip had been quite rewarding.

Visiting the bus outside of Denali National Park where Chris McCandless had died had brought Grace a feeling of peace. Peace was one of the main reasons she had left on this soul-searching journey in the first place. There was a storm brewing inside her mind, her soul and her heart when she left. Visiting the place that had once brought her newly sober self peace and serenity several years earlier had not done the trick. She had seen beautiful, amazing, breath-taking things, but there was still something missing from the equation. Maybe that was what she was supposed to feel though, maybe that was what she was supposed to realize. The beauty of being human is that we all have demons and ghosts to face within us, we are all looking for the answer to something, but don't even know the question. The idea that we were all lost souls, wandering the earth in search of something made sense and had satisfied Grace until now.

_Had Supertramp_ _found what he was looking for?_ Grace wondered as she looked upon the bus. The young nomadic man had abandoned society after finishing university and was looking for something better than the life he had known among people. Grace recalled an argument she and Spencer had had when he discovered _Into The Wild_ on her bookshelf.

_"He was not anti-social, Spencer!" Grace argued. "You of all people should know that anti-social personality disorder does not make a person physically remove themselves from society! Alexander Supertramp never harmed another human being and he was not incapable of feeling remorse. You haven't even read the book!"_

_"Well, why would he just leave his family to go die in a bus in Alaska?"_

_"He'd seen terrible things. He saw the harm people can do." Grace explained. "Not like what we see at work, but it still scarred him deeply."_

_"He didn't need to run away," Reid had insisted. "He could have found a therapist."_

_Grace knew what he was thinking. _Everything in extremes.

_"He was looking for answers. He was looking for peace."_

Grace thought some more on the subject, her thumb stuck in the air, hoping a motorist would stop and give her a ride to Fairbanks. Her suitcase had been lost so all she carried was a backpack containing her wallet, a few articles of clothing and a photograph of her and Spencer, the one Garcia had took at the cabin.

Had Supertramp died happy? He had starved and ate a poisonous plant, that couldn't be a very pleasant way to go, but had he found what he was looking for? She remembered some of the last words in his diary, "Happiness only real when shared."

Supertramp had went all this way just to realize that. A lump formed in Grace's throat. _What had she done?_

* * *

Penelope Garcia stood in line at a coffee shop in Fairbanks, Alaska. She was fetching coffee for her fine, furry friends who were busy trying to catch one of America's scummiest. She had originally baulked at the idea of coming to Alaska after what had happened last time, but staying in the city was not as frightening.

The bell that hung above the door of the coffee shop rang and Garcia turned around to see a very dirty, tired blonde in a Caltech sweater. The girl's eyes widened with terror and she turned around and ran out of the shop before Garcia could even call out to her.

* * *

Reid leaned his head against the large window and closed his eyes. Processing thoughts had become exceedingly difficult since Grace had left and his current migraine was not helping. He sighed and stared down onto the street from the third floor of the Fairbanks PD.

He caught a glimpse of familiar blonde hair sprinting down the street.

He rubbed his eyes and took a closer look, but she was gone. He must be hallucinating. He made a mental note to call his doctor when they got back to Virginia.

* * *

Grace probably should have realized that the words "Quick, I need a plane to anywhere before that FBI jet leaves!" was probably not a smart thing to say at an airport before they came out of her mouth.

Thankfully though, she realized this before the woman at the desk had time to think of what to do and had escaped before the authorities had a chance to stop her. She was also thankful that she had met a friendly trucker leaving town on his way to Seattle who offered her a ride.

* * *

Reid and Morgan had been hopeful when they got a call from the airport saying that someone had came in, looking to run from the FBI. They went straight to the airport, hoping to get a description of the unsub from the airport employee who had seen him.

"She was blonde, short, green eyes and freckles." the woman told them. "She looked like she hadn't showered in a week and she was wearing a Caltech sweater."

Morgan and Reid exchanged a look. Reid had not been hallucinating afterall. Grace had really been in Fairbanks. She probably still was.

"You want to go after her, kid?" Morgan asked as they got back in the Suburban.

Reid shook his head. "She's running from me. She won't want me to follow her."

"She's not just running from you, Reid." Morgan said. "She left all of us."

* * *

**A/N: So you guys probably aren't too pleased with me right now. Reviews anyway? *pouty face* I'd really like to know what you guys think of Grace's travels and her thoughts in this chapter. It's been a strange one to write. Grace and Reid apart, Grace _not_ having a fit over every little thing, trying to get Reid's thoughts right... Not what I'm used to. Oh well, I suppose that's how you grow as a writer.**

**Oh yeah, the bit about Chris McCandless/Alexander Supertramp. Into The Wild is one of my favourite books/movies. If you haven't read/watched it, that bit might have been a bit confusing. Look up Into The Wild or inbox me if you have any questions. **

**So anyway, please review, my lovely readers.**


	33. Chapter 33

_Disclaimer: I own nothing except Grace._

* * *

"We're on a case, we can't follow her, Morgan." Reid protested.

"I'm sure if you explained to Hotch-"

"Morgan, she doesn't want to be followed. Doing so would only make things worse."

Morgan sighed. "For a smart guy, you are being really stupid right now."

"How am I being stupid?" Reid yelled defensively.

"You're letting the best thing that ever happened to you just walk away!" Morgan yelled back. "You couldn't stop your father and you couldn't stop Gideon, but you can try to stop Grace."

* * *

"You want to do _what_?" Hotch raised his voice to Morgan and Reid. He knew something was wrong with Reid lately, but he had no idea that it had to do with Grace. He had assumed that Grace was back at the apartment, trying to work out whatever was wrong inside her head. He had assumed that the stress of the job and his relationship was causing Reid to crave Dilaudid again and that he had been holding his NA coin in his pocket, not a picture of Grace.

"We want off this case to go after Grace." Morgan repeated.

Hotch looked at Reid. The young genius had not said a word so far. Morgan had explained the entire situation.

"We need you on this case right now." Hotch insisted.

"If we don't go now, we might not find her!" Morgan yelled.

"She doesn't want to be found." Reid said rather venomously.

"Morgan, I'm sorry." Hotch said. "But if Grace doesn't want to be found, I can't let you go after her."

Morgan nearly lost his cool, but he stopped himself before he punched a hole in the wall. He now understood how hopeless Reid felt in this situation. Grace was gone.

* * *

Grace waved goodbye to Rick, the truck driver as he drove away. The appreciative smile erased from her face as she turned around and looked at where he had left her.

There it was, the infamous greenhouse where Kurt Cobain had shot himself. She regretted it immediately. She thought this would bring her some kind of peace, but it only brought despair. Grace had thought this place would make her feel the way she felt when she heard Cobain's voice in his songs, but all she could feel was the sadness that must have filled him in the last moments of his life. Grace didn't need this. She ran. She ran as fast as she could. She had to get out of there, get somewhere happy.

* * *

"Hey, Baby Girl, what's wrong?" Morgan asked Garcia.

She shifted in her seat. Her usual optimistic smile was nowhere to be seen.

"Don't say anything to Reid, but I think Grace is in trouble." she whispered.

They looked across the plane at Reid. He was asleep in his seat, a book in his lap.

"What kind of trouble?" Morgan asked.

Garcia shook her head. "I don't know, I just have a feeling. A really bad feeling."

* * *

The rain was coming down hard. Reid's Caltech sweater was soaked and Grace was shivering inside of it. Walking along the empty road, she could barely see a foot in front of her. It was so dark, she wasn't even sure she was on the road anymore.

She felt someone's eyes on her. She had felt them since she ran from the spot where Rick had dropped her off. No one had picked her up since then. Barely anyone had driven past her. She could feel the eyes in the woods. She had always been afraid of the woods at night. Terrified of it.

Maybe she was just paranoid. She was just crazy. She knew that Reid suspected that she was schizophrenic, maybe he was right. Or she could be sick. She could be dying. She hadn't eaten in all day and this rain certainly was doing nothing for her health. She needed sleep.

Was it safe to sleep? Where could she sleep? She doubted she could find dry shelter along the road and if she entered the woods, whatever was watching her would surely get her. She decided to just lay down and take a rest on the side of the road.

She closed her eyes and let herself drift off. Her sleep was soon disturbed by approaching headlights that stopped in front of her. Someone got out of the car and ran toward her.

"Grace?" she distantly heard a familiar voice say.

Grace opened her eyes and looked up. The tall, scrawny, brown-haired man extended an arm toward her and helped her up.

* * *

"Don't you think he'll get suspicious of us all meeting without him?" JJ asked the rest of the team, looking out the window of Hotch's office at Reid who was sitting at his desk.

"Pffft..." Garcia said. "I gave him a new book, that should keep him occupied."

"Yeah, but look at the size of that thing!" Morgan remarked. "He'll be done in like five minutes."

Garcia rolled her eyes. "That's why I gave him the whole series, duh."

"Alright," Hotch said, uncomfortable with the idea of having a team meeting just to discuss the troubles of Reid's love life. He shuddered at the thought of Strauss finding out about this meeting. "Let's make this quick."

"We need to find Grace." Morgan said.

"I'm checking every American airport." Garcia said, annoyed that Morgan was doubting her technical skills.

"Well, she could be hitchhiking, taking a train, driving a rental..." Prentiss speculated.

"She's smart enough to use an alias." Rossi added. "She knows we'd be looking for her."

JJ sighed. "What we need is for Reid to make a geographic profile." she said. "She was in Fairbanks the other day, how far could she have gone?"

"She can't be flying." Garcia said. "That's how I've kept track of her so far, she's using her real name to fly."

"Then why didn't you see she was back in the US?" Morgan snapped.

"We... we were on a case and I was using Fairbanks' computers, not my own. I missed it." Garcia defended herself.

"Have you checked hospitals, Garcia?" Hotch asked.

Garcia shook her head. "No, but I'm on it."

* * *

"We need to get you to a hospital, Grace."

She shook her head and leaned against the car door. "No, I'm fine, really."

"You probably have hypothermia or pneumonia!" he rescuer insisted.

"No, Sam." she said. "They'll find me."

"Are you using again, Grace?" Sam asked.

"No." Grace said, rolling up her sleeve to show her old friend. "How did you find me anyway?"

"I'll tell you later," Same said. "Right now we have to get you to a hospital.

* * *

"Oh my gosh." Garcia gasped at her computer screen.

She got up and ran to Morgan's desk in her hot pink heels.

"Chocolate Thunder, round up the rest of the Justice League and get to my office, ASAP!" she ordered quietly so Reid couldn't hear.

Less than five minutes later, the team, _sans_ Reid was gathered in the Oracle's lair.

"She's in a hospital in Olympia, Washington with pneumonia." Garcia said breathlessly.

"Get the hospital on the phone." Rossi ordered.

Garcia did as she was told and put the phone on speaker.

"Hello, my name is Penelope Garcia, FBI technical analyst." she said to whoever answered the phone.

"FBI?" the woman on the other end said. "How can I help you."

"Well, I see that you've admitted an FBI agent recently." Garcia said.

"I have?" the woman asked, bewildered.

"Yes ma'am, her name is Grace Ashton, she has pneumonia."

"I'm... I'm not allowed to release patient information unless you're family." the woman informed Garcia.

"Ma'am, you're on speaker phone with her entire family right now, the Behaviour Analysis Unit of the FBI in Quantico, Virginia." Garcia said. "Our Gracie has been missing for over a month and we've finally found her at your hospital. We have a right to know how our little sister is doing!"

"Just a moment please." the woman said.

Gracia smiled and high-fived Morgan. They finally found their girl.

"I'm sorry," the woman apologized, returning to the phone. "Grace Ashton was released half an hour ago."

"What? She has pneumonia and you just let her go alone?" Prentiss yelled.

"She wasn't alone." the woman from the hospital said. "She went with a man."

"Man? What man?" JJ asked.

"Uh... I think he said his name was Sam Adler."

"Thank you ma'am, you've been most helpful!" Garcia said, ending the call.

"Garcia, find everything you can on Sam Adler." Hotch commanded.

"Already on it, G-Man." she said, typing furiously.

* * *

"So, how did you find me?" Grace asked Sam as they drove away from the hospital.

"Your sister found out you were missing and she's been freaking out." Sam said. "You've got a lot of people worried about you. They've even started a Facebook page."

Grace laughed. "What were you doing in Washington though?"

"When I heard, I knew where you'd be." Sam explained.

"Good guess." Grace said. "I've been all over since I went off the grid. India, Ghana, Alaska..."

"I had a reason for coming to find you." Sam admitted.

* * *

"Sam Adler," Garcia said to the team. "Twenty-four, graduated high school with Grace, recorded and produced quite a few of her CDs. After university, he moved to LA to try to start his own record company and he seems to be doing pretty well. Several music magazines have called him one of the best up-and-comers of the decade. Not much of a record except for a couple possession charges during university."

"What's he doing with our girl?" Morgan asked protectively. "How did he find her?"

"I have no idea." Garcia said. "Should we tell Reid?"

Morgan thought for a moment. How would Reid react to finding out Grace was travelling the west coast with another man? He was finally starting to forget about her and act more like Reid again. Maybe they shouldn't tell him...

* * *

Reid sat at his desk, pretending to read one of the graphic novels Garcia had given him. Hidden inside the pages was the picture of him and Grace that he hadn't let out of his reach since she left. He traced her face with his finger, wishing she were really there.

He was aware of the BAU meeting behind his back to discuss the matter, but he allowed them the satisfaction of thinking he didn't notice. He was aware of them running back and forth to Garcia's office with worry, but he couldn't let his curiosity get the best of him. He thought he was doing well convincing the rest of the team that he was getting over it. Truthfully, it got worse every day.

"Grace, I want to sign you to my label." Sam said.

Grace shook her head. "No, Sam. I left that all behind me."

"Please, Grace." Sam pleaded. "Your voice, it's like... pure gold. The world needs to hear you. What happened to all the dreams we had, practising in my garage, recording at your cabin, our gigs in college?"

"Sam, I'm not that girl anymore. I gave up that life when I gave up drugs." Grace insisted.

"Please, Grace, just let me show you what you're missing."

Grace sighed in defeat. "You're lucky I'm too tired to argue."

* * *

"Dr. Reid?" Macy's voice came through the phone.

Reid looked at the clock on the nightstand. 3:24 am.

"Yeah, who's this?" he asked groggily.

"It's Macy. I'm sorry if I woke you, but I can't sleep, I keep thinking about Grace."

"You mean, you haven't heard from her either?" Reid asked.

"No, it's been almost two months." Macy said, fear in her voice. "I was hoping you would know something."

"No, I don't." Reid said. "She left me."

"What? No, she couldn't have." Macy protested. "She loves you. She wouldn't do that."

"She did. She left me with nothing but a note."

"No, Grace wouldn't do that." Macy sobbed.

Reid sighed. "She hasn't been herself in a long time, Macy." he explained. "Grace is sick, she needs help."

Macy screamed in frustration. "And you're just sitting on your ass, doing nothing? She could be hurt, she could be using again!"

"Macy, there's nothing we can do. The BAU's looking for her, but she's smart, she knows how to hide from us."

"I'm coming down." Macy said determinedly. "There must be something you guys are missing. You may be profilers, but I've known her all my life, there must be some kind of-"

"She doesn't want to be found, Macy." Reid said. "We almost had her in Alaska, but she got away. Trust me, if I could bring her back, I would, but there's nothing I can do. There's nothing any of us can do."

Macy sighed. "I'm sorry, Dr. Reid. If you find _anything_, please call me."

"I will. Please don't think I don't care, Macy because I do. It's getting colder and all she has is my sweater."

* * *

"You should really take a shower." Sam suggested as they stepped into his condo.

Grace had not realized how bad she smelled until she had stepped into Sam's immaculate home.

"Down the hallway, third door on your right." Sam gave directions.

Grace stared into the mirror in the bathroom. At home, she was usually the most beautiful thing in her washroom. Here, among the sparkling porcelain and granite, she looked like garbage. Her hair was filthy and knotted, dark bags hung beneath her eyes, she was even paler than usual. She sighed and stripped out of her dirty clothes and got in the shower.

The warm water felt relaxing as it hit her skin. It was almost as comforting as... something else that was warm that used to touch her skin. She let the tears fall, no one could see her break down here.

Sam could definitely hear her though. At first her had been searching the apartment for something for Grace to wear when he heard what sounded like choking. Fear consumed him. He could not live with the guilt of letting another girl kill herself. He ran to the bathroom and threw open the door.

Grace screamed.

"SAM! WHAT THE FUCK, MAN?"

Sam blushed and covered his eyes. "I'm sorry, Grace, I thought you were choking."

_Jessie_. Grace thought.

"No, I was... I was crying, Sam." she confessed. "Please get out and let me finish."

Sam closed the door and resumed his search.

When Grace came out of the bathroom in a bathrobe, Sam was waiting at the door for her. He handed her a turquoise mini-dress.

Grace shook her head. "Sam, I can't wear Jessie's clothes, that's not right. Why do you even still have her things?"

Grace knew the answer to the question before Sam even spoke. He felt guilty for his girlfriend's suicide. It had been over five years and he was still grieving. His depression in high school had driven the otherwise cheerful and optimistic girl insane trying to help him. When she finally realized that there was nothing she could do for him, she hung herself in the shower.

"I miss her too, Sam, but it wasn't your fault."

Grace didn't even believe that herself. Sam's depression had always seemed like a sham to get girls (other than the adamantly abstinent Jessie) to sleep with him. Grace had always felt bad for assuming this after her own bouts with depression, but a lot of people assumed this about Sam.

Grace sighed and grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from her backpack.

"I'll wear my own clothes." she said.

"No, you need something better looking than that, we're going to the club tonight." Sam said.

"Club?"

"I told you I was going to show you what you're missing. Put those on, but i'm taking you shopping."

* * *

At 3:30am the next night, Reid's phone rang again. This time he sat up in the hotel bed and checked the caller ID. When he saw who it was, he hit the ignore button. It rang again and he ignored it again. Then he received a text from the caller.

_I just saw your little girlfriend. She's hiding from me. Haha._

Reid's eyes widened in fear. He called the sender back.

"Lila, where is she?" Reid demanded.

* * *

"Oh fuck..." Grace said. "Oh fuck fuck fuck."

"What's up?" Sam asked.

"Hide me, hide me now!" Grace said.

"From what, Grace?" Sam yelled over the loud club music.

"Spencer's ex! Over there!" she nodded in Lila's direction.

"Lila Archer? From the beach volleyball show?" Sam asked. "Your boyfriend dated _Lila Archer_?"

Grace nodded. "Well, I'm not sure he's even my boyfriend anymore."

Sam smiled sympathetically. "Wanna make her jealous by dancing with the hottest new music producer in LA?"

Grace laughed and wrapped her arms around Sam's neck. The music was fast and full of bass, but they slow danced middle school style, laughing the whole time.

* * *

"She's dancing with another guy." Lila said.

"Who is he?"

"I think his name is Sam Adler."

Sam Adler. Reid had heard that name, seen that name somewhere before, but where? He hung up on Lila and dialled Garcia's number.

* * *

"I've really missed you, Grace." Sam said as they sat down at a table in the back. "I miss the whole crew."

"Do you ever see any of them?" Grace asked.

"I saw Len a few months ago and Jay about a year ago." Sam shrugged. "It's not the same as when we were all together though."

"What about Kris?" Grace asked.

Sam shook his head. "Not since I finished college. He can't really afford to travel these days. Too many mouths to feed."

Grace laughed. One thing that had kept her going through her darkest days before she met Spencer was knowing that her ex was living in a trailer park, supporting God only knows how many different baby mamas while she had an education and a job and a promising future.

"You know, Len and Jay and I used to pity him." Sam said.

Grace raised an eyebrow. "Not anymore?"

Sam shook his head and took a swig of his rum and Coke. "It took awhile for us to realize that the things he did to you were wrong. He gave up an amazing, smart, beautiful girlfriend for a bunch of sleazy trash just because she wasn't ready to give it up. It's his own damn fault that he is where he is right now."

Grace smiled, glad that she finally had an ally in the war against her ex. Sure, Kris hadn't beat her like Josh had, but thee things he did to her still hurt. He left her because she refused to have sex with him. He convinced the whole school that she was a slutty tease and she had lost a lot of friends because of it. Even Kass, her best friend since the fourth grade had taken Kris's side.

"Excuse me, Grace." Sam said. "I have to introduce the next act."

* * *

"Your friendly neighbourhood Oracle speaking, how can I make your day?" Garcia answered her phone.

"Garcia, I need everything you can get on a guy named Sam Adler." Reid demanded breathlessly.

Garcia swallowed the lump in her throat. Who had told Reid?

"Why, Boy Wonder?" she asked innocently.

"Lila just ca-"

"_Lila_? Your beloved Gracie is gone and you're talking to _Lila_?"

Reid sighed. He felt rather guilty about calling Lila, but she knew something about Grace. "She knew where Grace was." he said desperately. "She saw her dancing with this Sam Adler guy at a club in LA."

Garcia sighed. "He's Grace's friend from high school, sugar. He helped make most of her CDs. He runs a label in LA now." She didn't even have to look him up.

"Thanks Garcia." Reid said, ready to hang up.

"Wait! Reid! What are you doing?" Garcia asked.

"I'm going to get Grace back." he said determinedly.

"You're on a case!"

"I'll be back by morning."

* * *

"Alright, this next performer is a very good friend of mine." Sam said into the microphone. "Grace Ashton!"

Oh no, he did not just do that. Sam did not just call her up on stage. He knew that she suffered from crippling stage-fright. The only way she was able to perform before was by getting high before each and every show.

She ran out of the club and hailed a cab. She stopped at Sam's apartment where she kicked down the door and retrieved her belongings. She had the cabby drive her around until she found a used car for sale on someone's lawn. She banged on the door frantically, paid the man who lived there two thousand dollars in cash, snatched the keys from him and sped off in the old clunker.

Sam awoke the in the middle of the night with a massive hangover and someone pounding on his door.

* * *

"Hold on, man, I'm coming." he groaned, rolling out of bed, careful not to wake the blonde sleeping next to him. He threw on the pants he had worn the night before and the same shirt, but left it open, exposing his pale, un-toned chest and his third nipple. He dragged himself to the door and opened it. Standing before him was a scrawny man who was dressed like a university professor.

"Sup?" Sam cocked his head.

"Are you Sam Adler?" the man asked.

Sam nodded.

"Where's Grace?"

"She didn't come back from the club last night." Sam said simply. "Who the hell are you anyway?"

"I'm Dr. Spencer Reid, I'm her boyfriend."

* * *

Morgan watched as Reid stirred his coffee at the Philly field office. He had been late that morning and he looked exhausted, not that these last two months hadn't been exhausting for him between several hard cases and worrying about Grace. He looked especially tired today. Over the past week or so since they returned from Alaska, Morgan had noticed Reid was starting to get better, as if he had found some way to cope with this mess. Today he seemed as though he had regressed though.

"Hey kid, what's going on?" Morgan asked, concerned.

"Nothing."

"Don't give me that, Reid, I know something's wrong."

Reid shook his head. "Grace was in LA yesterday. I flew out there last night, but she was gone."

"You flew to LA?"

Reid shrugged. "You told me not to let the best thing that ever happened to me get away."

"But she took off again?"

Reid nodded sadly.

* * *

"Oh come on, you piece of shit!" Grace cursed at the Tercel.

Not even two days and it had broken down already, in sweltering Arizona of all places. She had just stopped to admire the Grand Canyon and now the damned car refused to start.

Grace got out, slammed the door and kicked the car.

"You stupid piece of shit!" she yelled and began hitchhiking once more.

After several hours of wandering in the ungodly heat, a man in a pick-up truck stopped.

"That doesn't look like an outfit to be hitchhiking in, Miss." the just-a little older than, but not too much older than middle-aged man said.

Grace laughed. "Well, it wasn't my plan, but my piece of shit car broke down."

"You don't have triple A?" he asked.

Grace shook her head. "Not for that car anyway. Plus I don't have time to sit and wait for a mechanic."

"Where are you headed? Maybe I can give you a drive." the man offered.

"Home." Grace said, hopping into the passenger seat.

"Where's home?"

"Virginia." Grace said.

"I lived in Virginia once." the man recalled. "My name's Jason."

Grace shook his hand. "Grace Ashton."

* * *

**A/N: So, I know how much everyone loves my cliffhangers, so I tried to make each little section like a mini-cliffhanger, then a nice big one at the end! Muahahahaha! I am in an unbelievably good mood today. I am sooooo excited to go write the next chapter, but I have to study Canadian History. Maybe I just won't study...**

**Thanks to all my readers for the recent reviews and words of encouragement. You guys have no idea how much it means to me!**


	34. Chapter 34

_Disclaimer: I own nothing except Grace_

* * *

"Do you think we'll be in Virginia by the twenty-eighth?" Grace asked.

Jason had been kind enough to offer to drive her all the way back to Virginia.

"Maybe, what are you in such a hurry for?" he asked.

Grace bit her lip. "My... my boyfriend's birthday." she mumbled.

Jason nodded. They continued on in silence.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Reid," Garcia sighed. "Still nothing."

This was the tenth time he had checked with her today for Grace's whereabouts.

"You've checked bus lines and car rentals and hospitals too?" Reid asked desperately.

Garcia nodded. "I'm sorry, Boy Wonder. Nothing."

* * *

"So, what do you do?" Grace asked Jason.

He gave her a puzzled look. "Why do you ask?"

Grace shrugged. "Well, Not many people pick up a hitchhiker and a very small percentage of them are willing to drive said hitchhiker across the country. So you're either some kind of creeper or you've got a lot of time on your hands and a conscience that could eat you alive."

"I used to know someone who liked to talk percentages." Jason said, dodging the question.

"So did I." Grace said, thinking of Spencer. "You're avoiding my question though, Jason."

Jason wondered for a moment if they could possibly be talking about the same person, but then laughed at the idea. He could imagine the person he was talking about saying something about there being approximately six billion people in the world and the chances of two strangers knowing the same person.

"So what do you do?" Grace asked again.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Grace repeated. "You can't do _nothing_, you wouldn't exist. What brings someone to Arizona, but can't keep them from driving a stranger to Quantico, Virginia?"

"Did you just say_ Quantico_?"

Grace nodded.

"What's in Quantico, of all places?"

"I already told you, my boyfriend and my... my family." Grace said, getting slightly annoyed. "If they'll even take me back. Do you plan to answer my question, or not?"

Jason took a deep breath. "I was looking for something."

"So was I."

"Did you find what you were looking for?"Jason asked.

"Yeah, but not where I expected to." Grace replied. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Maybe."

* * *

Reid hung up his keys and stumbled to bed, not even turning on the lights. This typical route was so familiar, he could probably do it in his sleep now. That was, if he actually got any real sleep. He had been trying to exhaust himself lately by staying at the BAU, doing everyone else's paper work until security told him he had to leave.

This was his life now. Throwing himself into his work until he had to come home to the lonely apartment above the Jones' garage where he kept the lights off so he wouldn't have to see anything that would remind him of Grace.

He guessed that didn't differ much from his life before her, except for that it was a different apartment, full of all her things and there was a terrible feeling inside his chest that never went away, not even when a case had the happiest ending possible.

He sighed and laid down on his back, staring at the ceiling. The sheets didn't even smell like Grace anymore. Her hairbrush still had a few strands of her hair in it, maybe he could clone her if things got too hard to handle without her.

He was actually surprised that after all this time, Morgan had never said "There's plenty of fish in the sea." or something along those lines. Maybe it was because he – and the rest of the BAU for that matter – knew that there really wasn't. Not for Reid anyway. Grace couldn't be replaced. It was hard enough to find a girl who could actually talk to the young genius, let alone one as pretty and amazing as her.

OK, so the idea of cloning Grace was kind of radical, Reid had to admit. Sure she would look the same, but she would not have the same personality. It was the things that had happened to her, the things she had courageously overcome that made her who she was.

He sighed again and tried to force thoughts of Grace out of his mind so he could sleep.

* * *

"So, what do you do back in Virginia?" Jason asked Grace who was busy staring out the window at the stars above them.

"Oh, you know, eat, sleep, breathe, go to work, those kinds of things." Grace replied.

"Where do you work?" Jason asked.

"The FBI." Grace said simply.

Jason tried to hide the look of surprise on his face, even though Grace was not looking at him anyway. Maybe this girl did know Spencer after all.

"So, why don't you think your family will want you back in Virginia?" Jason asked her curiously.

"I uh... I kind of ran away." she admitted. "Well, I'm not sure it can be called running away since I'm an adult. I took medical leave from work so it wasn't like I just took off on them. I guess I was kind of running away from my problems. I uh... I didn't even tell my boyfriend I was leaving, I just got up in the middle of the night and left him a letter. He's probably really upset and they're probably all really mad at me for hurting him like that, leaving him the same way his father left him. I feel terrible. They shouldn't take me back after this."

Now Jason Gideon was sure that this girl who he had randomly found hitchhiking in Arizona was the girlfriend of none other than Dr. Spencer Reid.

* * *

"Aaron," Ainsley said, shaking Hotch awake. "Aaron, the phone's ringing! Wake up!"

Hotch opened his eyes reluctantly. He did not want to answer the phone, but he hadn't told anyone that Ainsley was staying the weekend. Hell, he hadn't even told anyone they were dating... or whatever this was. If Ainsley answered the phone, they could be in some serious shit.

"Hello?" he breathed into the phone.

"Hotch, I think I've found something you're missing." a familiar voice said.

"Jason?" Hotch said in disbelief. "Is that really you? And what do you mean?"

"Yes, it's really me, Hotch." he said. "Did you happen to lose an agent by the name of Grace Ashton?"

"Yeah, how did you-"

"She was hitchhiking in Arizona and I picked her up. I had no idea until we got talking. I should have her back sometime tomorrow."

"Thank you Gideon." Hotch said.

"You can't tell anyone else that we're coming though." Gideon said. "She wants to surprise Reid and I don't want him to know I was ever in Virginia."

"Yes, I understand." Hotch said. "Does she know you're speaking to me? She's been quite determined to avoid Garcia's detectiong."

"No, she doesn't even know I've ever heard of the BAU." Gideon assured Hotch.

"Thank you again, Jason."

He hung up and turned back to Ainsley and kissed her.

"Wow, you sure are happy." she said. "Must have been some phone call."

He tucked a piece of Ainsley's long, wild, auburn hair behind her ear. "Grace is coming back tomorrow."

"What? Really?" Ainsley asked, crying tears of joy. "She's coming back? For real?"

Hotch nodded. He knew it was extremely uncharacteristic of him to be celebrating this, especially with someone other than Haley, but Grace's leaving had taken its toll on the entire team. He was glad that the dark cloud that hung over the BAU without her would soon be lifted.

He and Grace had gotten off on the wrong foot, that was for sure. Her presence had definitely changed the team though, they all thought of her as their younger sister. She brightened the place and reminded them not to get jaded, the way she was nearly in tears over every case. It wasn't that she couldn't handle the job, she just had an excessive amount of empathy within her.

Hotch was thankful for Grace, not just for what she did for the team, but for what she had done for his love life. Meeting Ainsley at Grace's cabin had been great, they had really hit it off and Jack loved her, but neither of them had bothered trying to take the relationship beyond the initial flirting. They both had lives that just would not fit together and Ainsley was afraid that she was trespassing on forbidden territory with him. When Ainsley had began to call the BAU daily, looking for news of Grace, the team had directed her calls to Hotch, hoping his stern, no-bullshit attitude would make her stop, but the two had bonded even more over the phone.

Ainsley wasn't Haley and Hotch could never love her like that, but she did make him happier than he had been in awhile. Ainsley was not looking for commitment, especially since she was carrying the child of the last man who claimed to be "committed" to her, but the small comfort and escape from the every day stress of her life as a single mother that Hotch provided was good enough for her.

* * *

Gideon watched as Grace fidgeted in her seat more and more as they got closer to Quantico. Her eyes kept shifting to the clock, making sure they were not late.

"Oh shit!" Grace gasped. "I forgot to get Spencer a birthday present! Oh my god, I'm such an idiot!"

Gideon laughed. "I think you coming home will be better than anything you could give him anyway."

* * *

Reid rolled his eyes as the BAU sang "Happy Birthday" to him. This was so pathetically juvenile. He had hated them celebrating his birthday when he was twenty-four and hated it even more now. He wasn't even the youngest member of the BAU now, well, if Grace was even still considered part of it anymore. Either way, he felt way too old for this. They never felt the need to embarrass anyone else on their birthdays. How could they expect him to be happy anyway? Grace was still gone.

"Make a wish, Spence!" JJ urged.

He took a deep breath and blew the twenty-eight candles on the cake, hoping they weren't those damn trick candles this time. When they were extinguished and Reid opened his eyes, he could not believe what he saw in front of him. The odds... they were nearly impossible. This couldn't be happening. No way. The odds... All his belief in statistics was about to fly out the door.

"Spencer..." Grace said tearfully.

"Grace?" he said in disbelief, getting out of his chair and running toward her.

He was unsure of what to say, what to do. It had been so long since he'd spoken to her, touched her, held her. He was afraid he had forgotten how to.

"Do you know the odds of-"

Grace smiled through her tears. "Yeah, nearly impossible. And what are the odds that you would fall in love with the only girl who would plan her entrance just then just to shake your beliefs _that _much?"

Reid smiled back. "Actually, the odds are one to one because there's no way I could ever fall in love with anyone but that girl."

Grace threw her arms around him and buried her sobbing face into his shoulder. "God, I missed you, Spencer."

Reid tightened his arms around her waist, pulling her as close as he could. "I missed you too, Grace. Please, please don't ever leave me again."

"I'm not going anywhere, Spencer, I promise." she sobbed. "Never. I'm never leaving you again."

He nudged her face away from his shoulder with his face just enough so that he had room to kiss her.

* * *

"That's not the Reid I knew when I left this place." Gideon observed from the window in Hotch's office.

"No, he's certainly not." Hotch said.

"Well, I guess I should be going before anyone realizes I'm here."

"Thank you, Jason." Hotch said.

* * *

"Oh my God," Garcia gasped. "It's so romantic."

Her heart fluttered, watching the young couple re-unite. She wiped a tear from her eye.

"Pffft... that's not romance, that's sick." Morgan laughed.

Garcia hit him.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"You're just jealous." Garcia said.

Morgan smirked. "Yeah, I'm jealous of the birthday action that Pretty Boy's gonna get tonight."

"Eww, you're such a dog!" Prentiss said.

Morgan barked jokingly and the ladies of the BAU laughed and rolled their eyes.

* * *

Rossi was standing by the door, trying to remember what it felt like to be young and in love. All he could remember was several painful and expensive divorces though. He turned around when he heard the door open and saw Strauss, the Wicked Witch herself, live in person.

"Erin, don't ruin this for them." Rossi warned.

"Ruin it? I was just about to say how glad I was that Agent Ashton was back so Dr. Reid could go back to normal." Strauss said.

Rossi stared at her, bewildered. The old bitch had a heart afterall.

"I'll deal with the issue tomorrow."

Or maybe not.

* * *

"Spencer, I love you." Grace sighed.

"I love you too, sweetheart." Reid said. "This is definitely the best birthday I've ever had."

Grace kissed him. "Let's go home and make it even better." she whispered in his ear.

* * *

**A/N: Yay! Finally, they're back together!**

**Thank you all so much for reading and being so supportive of this story! Please don't forget to review!**

**I hope you all enjoyed seeing Gideon for a bit. I miss that man, but I'm pretty sure I love Rossi more.**

**Oh, so I was listening to the song I Just Do by Dear in the Headlights on repeat while writing this chapter. It's suuuuuch a good song, you should all check it out. Three minutes of your life that you will not regret.**

**I also have something to run by you guys, but I think I'll wait til later and just post it as a letter from the author. Or I guess I will just say it here.**

**_Dear loyal Threshold readers,_**

**_At the moment, I am toying with the idea of ending Threshold right here and starting a sequel. I'm not one hundred percent sold on the idea and would really love some input. I just feel that the end of this chapter was extremely climactic, but there are still many loose ends to tie up which could take quite a few more chapters. I also have had this story planned out way further in my head for a long time and hate to see it all go to waste. Also, thirty-four chapters is one heck of a lot, don't you think? I find that when I'm browsing for a story to read on here, I tend to avoid anything that's incomplete past twenty chapters. It just seems like too much time to devote to a story that has already received a bunch of support from readers. Well, I've made a few exceptions to that, but I'm just afraid that potential readers could be put off by so many chapters. Since I'm relatively new here, it would be great to hear from other fanfictioners about what you think._**

**_Anyway, continue Threshold or continue Reid and Grace's story in a sequel? And if I decide to do a sequel, what do I name it? So many questions, so few answers. _**

**_-ceegeeayy_**


	35. Letter To My Readers

**Dear Threshold readers,**

**I have come to the decision that Threshold will be ending here. It has been quite the ride writing this, my first fanfiction story and I am extremely pleased with the results. I'd like to thank all my readers for the support and encouragement throughout this ordeal, you guys have been _fan_tastic! (Pun intended.)**

**What about the rest of Reid and Grace's story? What about the new relationships beginning? What about Grace's mental illness? What about Gideon? Is Strauss going to fire Grace and Reid? Will Grace and Reid be able to move past her leaving? What about all the loose ends?**

**Well, my darlings, these questions will all be answered in the sequel! Yep, sequel! There's tons of things to wrap up or continue and some things to start. I'm really excited for the sequel and writing about all the new adventures of Grace, Reid and the rest of the BAU. Right now I am working on a title and the first chapter. Writing Threshold has been quite draining though and I think I need some time to breathe. I also picked up a couple extra shifts at work and have some scholarship applications to write this weekend so that will be rather time consuming. I have Monday and Tuesday free, but like I said, this has been draining and I need some time to recover and plot the sequel a little more. Or this could end up like every other time I've claimed to be taking a break and I'll end up having the sequel up by tomorrow. Either way, add me to your author watch list so you'll know whenever the sequel is up!**

**Thank you all again for the support and encouragement while writing Threshold. Writing this and hearing from you guys has really helped me pull through the last couple months. It means so much to me to know that there are people out there who actually want to hear from me. You guys have been amazing.**

**Love and Thanks,**

**ceegeeayy**


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